The Lady Vols were bested by Kentucky in three sets on Sunday (20-25, 24-26, 25-27).
No. 10 Tennessee struggled with serving and passing against No. 23 Kentucky. In addition, Kentucky put up a strong block, challenging Tennessee’s front row. The Lady Vols, who are frequently strong in siding out, had just 44% on side outs.
This marks Tennessee’s first SEC loss of the season (16-2, 7-1 SEC). However, with loss comes opportunity to grow.
“This team is not gonna hang their heads,” head coach Eve Rackham Watt said. “They were a confident group and we know we’re a good team. We just didn’t have a good day.”
The Lady Vols put up a fight against Kentucky in the last two sets, battling them past 25 points. Morgahn Fingall is a known leader for Tennessee, win or lose. Fingall tallied 16 kills and remained vocal on Sunday.
“I thought Morgahn Fingall played great and she was leading us verbally,” Rackham Watt said. “She was leading us out there, even playing wise. She still had a really good night. She was talking in timeout. She was talking out on the floor. I think she is the leader. She’s continued to be the leader. She was very much herself. But, since we just couldn’t get anything going, she was a little bit on an island.”
In order to overcome the adversity of a loss, it is crucial for Rackham Watt’s squad to make sure to work on what they can control instead of focusing on what is out of their control, such as the team that challenges them from across the net.
“It doesn’t really matter who’s on the other side of the net,” Fingall said. “It’s how Tennessee volleyball is playing. Are we staying within our system? Are we making sure that we’re doing our job? And that’s what showed up tonight is that we weren’t doing our job. Even though Kentucky was a good opponent, they’re a good team, I think we could have done a better job doing us.”
The margin of error is slim in volleyball. According to Rackham Watt, the team had a few “uncharacteristic errors and silly plays” that unfortunately can cost a team in this sport.
The Lady Vols previously swept the Wildcats in three sets at Kentucky earlier in the season. However, Kentucky did not have its star player Reagan Rutherford, who had suffered from an eye injury.
Thus, Tennessee had to adjust to a talented new lineup.
“It’s really hard to beat a team twice,” Fingall said. “But I think that quick turnaround just kind of shows how important because we can relate that to the tournament. It’s going to be a quick turnaround in the tournament as well. So just continue using the situations in the season to prepare us for where we want to go.”
Whether the match was a crucial moment of team reflection is still unknown. It could’ve been just an off day for the Lady Vols, a result of the quick turnaround from Friday’s match against Auburn where the Lady Vols won in four sets (25-19, 21-25, 25-21, 25-17).
“I don’t really know if this match means anything more than it’s just like a bad day,” Rackham Watt said. “I won’t know that until next Friday we play somebody else, but I’m not trying to look too much into it just because of the way we played.”
The Lady Vols will get to showcase their growth against No. 12 Arkansas on Friday at 6:30 p.m. ET.
