Total of 1,532 Fans Witnessed the Victory
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Playing in front of the third largest crowd in program history, the University of Tennessee volleyball team (21-7, 14-4 Southeastern Conference) claimed an impressive come-from-behind triumph over 13th-ranked Florida (20-5, 14-4) on Friday evening, winning in four sets, 22-25, 25-23, 25-15, 25-22, at Thompson-Boling Arena in Knoxville. A total of 1,532 Orange and White-clad faithful witnessed the Lady Volunteers’ second victory over a ranked team this season and fourth in the past three years.
“I could not be more proud of our team,” UT Head Coach Rob Patrick said. “This was just a great win for our program. Our team played a very focused and determined match. We could have easily packed our bags after the first set, but we showed tremendous resiliency in fighting for each point the rest of the way. This was a battle between two top-20 teams, but we were able to make a couple of big plays at the right times to come away with the win.
“I want to thank the Big Orange Nation for its support tonight,” Patrick said. “The crowd had a huge impact, especially when the momentum was turning in the fourth set. Tennessee has the best fans in the country and they proved that again tonight.”
The winner of the last two SEC Offensive Player of the Week awards, junior Nikki Fowler continued her incredible play with a match-high 19 kills and 16 digs to increase her consecutive double-double streak to 12 and give her 33 in her career. She now has 22 matches with double-digit kill totals in her three years at Rocky Top and 18 contests with 10+ digs.
“I felt we were in a good position when we were going into the locker room tied at one set each, despite the fact that Nikki wasn’t playing her normal, consistent brand of volleyball,” Patrick said. “I thought she did a tremendous job of regrouping at the break and played at an extremely high level the rest of the match. She started taking control at the net offensively and did a great job of serving aggressively, which was a big factor in getting Florida out of its offense a little bit.”
As a team, the Big Orange outhit the Gators, .219 to .139, holding UF to its second-lowest hitting percentage of the season. It also collected more kills (58 to 53), had nine more digs (81-73) and six more assists (55 to 50). Leading the Orange and White’s defensive effort was senior Chloe Goldman, who notched a team-high 21 digs in the win, marking the 35th time in her career that she has surpassed 20 scoops in a single match.
“Florida is one of the top offensive teams in the country and has tremendous athletes that play the game at the very highest level,” Patrick said. “To be able to hold them to a .139 hitting percentage is a testament to the tremendous effort our team put out on the defensive end. Chloe was a big reason for that success, as usual. She did a great job of controlling some well-struck attacks, as well as being rock solid in the serve-receive department.”
Senior Kylie Marshall also notched a double-double, her second of the season, with 11 kills and 15 digs. The Puyallup, Wash., native hit at a stellar .321 clip with just two errors in 28 attempts and added three blocks, while moving into fourth on UT’s all-time career digs chart. She now has a total of 1,319 scoops in her four years at Rocky Top, surpassing Stephanie Ehlers lifetime total of 1,312. Fellow classmate Farren Powe also had a strong showing, hitting .292 for the match with 10 kills and a squad-high four blocks.
“Kylie Marshall kept us in the match with her offensive outburst tonight,” Patrick said. “Like Chloe, she has been a mainstay in serve-receive as well. Along with her attacking, her blocking at the net helped slow down a very potent Florida offense. It’s really exciting to see her and Farren play integral roles in such a big win at the end of their senior seasons.”
Pacing the Lady Vol attack was sophomore setter Kelsey Mahoney, who became the third player on the squad to record a double-double on Friday with 46 assists and 14 digs. She picked up a pair of blocks, including the first solo putback of her career, an ace and a kill as well. Also standing out on the stat sheet for Tennessee was sophomore Kayla Jeter, who finished second on the team behind Fowler with 12 putaways, in addition to collecting six digs and three blocks.
“Kelsey’s play as of late has been critical to our success since we switched from the 6-2 to a 5-1,” Patrick said. “She has really adjusted well to having her hitters in different positions on the court, but still being able to find them for kills. She did an outstanding job of putting the ball in our hitter’s favorite spots and making it easy for them to be successful. She did everything she could defensively as well, digging, blocking and just working hard to set balls in transition. I’m proud of her for playing such a gutsy match tonight.”
The Lady Vols will next be in action Sunday when they host South Carolina at 1:30 p.m. Prior to the match, Tennessee will honor Goldman, Marshall, Powe and Carol Cheade in “Senior Day” festivities. Following that contest, the Orange and White will close out the 2009 regular season against No. 11 Kentucky at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 25.
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