Tennessee volleyball kicked off its final road trip in dominant fashion, taking down Vanderbilt in a sweep (25-17, 25-22, 25-20) Friday night in Nashville. The No. 16-ranked Lady Vols (17-5, 8-4 SEC) took care of business from the outset in a big bounce-back victory.
Coming off a 3-1 loss to Texas A&M and two consecutive home losses, Tennessee needed a morale boost and got it against the 6-16 Commodores.
Head coach Eve Rackham Watt has repeated the team’s need to execute cleanly on offense, and it did that on Friday night. Tennessee hit at a .449% clip in the win, outmatching Vanderbilt at the net and from behind the line.
Tennessee also had just 16 errors in the match, another point of emphasis for Rackham Watt this season. Following a homestand that saw the Lady Vols struggle with attacking errors, Friday night’s match was a clean effort all around.
Part of the effort came from behind the line as well, with nine of those 16 errors coming on service errors, yet the Lady Vols also recorded three aces as a team. Tennessee’s serving has been strong this season and got back to form Friday night.
It was a tight match early before Tennessee rattled off a 5-0 scoring run late in the first set that would propel the Lady Vols’ offense to the sweep. From there, Tennessee took a close second set and used 6-3 and 4-0 scoring runs to put the Commodores down for good.
Friday proved to be another dominant outing in a breakout season for outside hitter Hayden Kubik, who notched 18 kills on 36 attacks with an ace and a dig for the night as well.
In what could be looked back on as a get-right match for the Lady Vols, their top four hitters once again dominated the scoresheet, with Kubik, Starr Williams, Mackenzie Plante and Chelsea Sutton notching at least seven kills on 12 or more attacks.
Sutton also collected three blocks in the win, continuing to be a physical presence on defense. Caroline Kerr also continued her defensive excellence this season, collecting 42 assists, six blocks, and five digs Friday night.
Kerr also recorded her 3,000th career assist in the effort as well, marking her impact not only on the Lady Vols’ immediate success in 2025 but on the program as a whole. The redshirt junior has been a leader on and off the court for Rackham Watt’s Lady Vols during her tenure, and her team-first mentality has been the glue of the program from year to year.
Tennessee will have some momentum going into Sunday’s matchup, where it will take on the No. 2-ranked team in the country in the Kentucky Wildcats, in Lexington. Kentucky is 19-2 for the season and remains undefeated in SEC play this season.
