On Nov. 29, the Lady Vols ended their season with a heartbreaking loss.
After traveling to Louisville to play Michigan in the first round of the NCAA tournament, the Lady Vols started out a little weak, losing the first two sets (25-22, 25-17).
A spark lit under them as they rallied back to win the third and the fourth sets (25-22, 25-19).
“Going into the third set we took a breather and were like ‘we’re not gonna go out like this, we’re gonna dig in and go point by point, following the game plan,” Kelsey Robinson said.
The game ended on an emotional point when they fell in the fifth set (15-10). Tennessee ended 22-8 for the 2012 season.
Robinson had a total of 15 kills and 24 digs, and seniors DeeDee Harrison and Leslie Cikra each had 12 kills to end their careers as Lady Vols. Freshman Bianca Arellano helped the team with 10 assists and seven digs and Ellen Mullins contributed with 22 digs, only bested by Lexi Erwin with 26 kills and 11 digs. Molly Toon (20 kills) and Jennifer Cross (10 kills) followed.
“I’m very proud of this team and their ability to play very, very hard against a good team that was really taking it to us the first two sets,” said head coach Rob Patrick. “They never stopped believing in being able to be successful in this match and they played their hearts out. I am really proud of how they represented Tennessee out on the court today.”
The Lady Vols ended with a great season and lost an incredibly talented senior class. Harrison had 752 kills and is known for her career high 16 kills on Sept. 10, 2010. She was awarded 2011 AVC All-American Honorable Mention and 2012 Preseason All-SEC Team, among many others.
“It’s tough. The toughest thing is that we’re done this year,” said Patrick. “We have four incredible seniors who have won 99 matches here. They have the best winning percentage in Tennessee history, gone to four NCAA tournaments, won a conference championship, some things that Tennessee volleyball has never done.”
Cikra played in 416 sets, starting 71 of 118 matches. She had 908 kills in her four years here. She had career high 20 kills against Auburn during this 2012 season. In 2011, she was named First-Team All-SEC and the awards kept going from there.
Redshirt senior Kayla Jeter spent her five years at UT working for the team. She played in 386 sets with 73 starts in 112 games. She had 934 kills and had a career high of 27 against Georgia this past season.Chattanooga local Jasmine Brown played in 243 sets and 83 matches during her time at UT. She had a career high this season at LSU with 14 kills and 146 digs.
“I wanted this success in the postseason for them,” Patrick said. “I really did, they deserved it. They put in the time and energy and sacrifice, sweat and blood and everything else into it. That’s why I wanted the success for the players and especially for the seniors for what they’ve done for this program.”
