Tennessee Lady Volunteers volleyball

The Tennessee Lady Volunteers volleyball team represents the University of Tennessee located in Knoxville, Tennessee. The Volunteers (or "Vols") compete in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) and the Southeastern Conference (SEC). The Volunteers play their home matches in the Thompson–Boling Arena on the university's campus, and are currently led by 3rd-year head coach Eve Rackham.

Tennessee Lady Volunteers volleyball
Founded1973
UniversityUniversity of Tennessee
Athletic directorDanny White
Head coachEve Rackham (6th season)
ConferenceSEC
LocationKnoxville, Tennessee
Home arenaThompson–Boling Arena (capacity: 21,678)
NicknameLady Volunteers
ColorsOrange and white[1]
   
AIAW/NCAA Tournament semifinal
2005
AIAW/NCAA Regional Final
2005
AIAW/NCAA regional semifinal
1982, 1983, 1984, 2004, 2005, 2023
AIAW/NCAA second round
1982, 1983, 1984, 1993, 2004, 2005, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2018, 2021, 2023
AIAW/NCAA Tournament appearance
1971, 1972, 1973, 1977, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1993, 2000, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2018, 2021, 2022, 2023
Conference tournament champion
1981, 1982, 1984, 2004
Conference regular season champion
1981, 1982, 1984, 2004, 2011

Along with all other UT women's sports teams, it used the nickname "Lady Volunteers" (or the short form "Lady Vols") until the 2015–16 school year, when the school dropped the "Lady" prefix from the nicknames of all women's teams except in basketball.[2] In late 2017 the university reinstated the “Lady Volunteer” nickname for all women's sports teams.

Program History

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Since the Volunteers have begun competing in the NCAA they have begun a successful trend of winning and have recently built a very sound program that competes for conference championships regularly. The Vols have managed to make the NCAA Volleyball Tournament and AIAW Tournament a total of 23 times and reached the semi-finals in the tournament in 2005. The Lady Vols are generally considered the 3rd best program in the SEC historically, behind Kentucky and Florida, as they have the 3rd most appearances in the NCAA Tournaments, and are tied with LSU for 3rd most conference championships (9).

Rob Patrick Era

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From 1997 until his retirement in 2017, Rob Patrick led the Lady Vols to 9 NCAA Tournaments, 2 SEC Championships, an SEC Tournament, and 11 20+ win seasons. One highlight of the Rob Patrick campaign came in 2004, when the Lady Vols set program records in wins (32), win percentage (.914), and claimed the SEC regular season and tournament championships. This success culminated in a #12 national seed and an NCAA Sweet 16 berth. The Lady Vols finished the 2004 season with a final record of 32-3 (15-1 SEC). The success rolled into 2005 as the Lady Vols made their deepest postseason appearance with their first and only NCAA Final Four appearance. Despite his accomplishments, the Lady Vols struggled during his final two years finishing a combined 29-29 and 12–24 in SEC play by the time Patrick retired in 2017.[3]

Eve Rackham-Watt Era

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On January 10, 2018, former athletic director Phillip Fulmer announced Eve Rackham as the new head coach for the Lady Volunteers. In her first season as head coach, Rackham led the largest single season turnaround in program history, taking a team that finished 12-15 (5-13 SEC) the previous season to 26-6 (16-2 SEC) with a 2nd place SEC finish. Additionally, Rackham ended a 5-year postseason drought in 2018, and guided the Lady Vols to back-to-back NCAA tournaments for the first time since 2012 by qualifying in 2021 and 2022.[4]

Yearly Record

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The University of Tennessee first fielded a women's varsity volleyball team in the fall of 1958 and first kept recordings of games in 1973. Since then, the Volunteers have won four Southeastern Conference (SEC) championships.[3]

Year Head coach Overall
record
SEC
Record
SEC
standing
Winning
percentage
Postseason
(Independent) (1973–1978)
1973 Kaye Hart (1st) 38-6 .864 2nd Region II
1974 Kaye Hart (2nd) 8-14 .364
1975 Diane Hale (1st) 17-8-6 .645
1976 Jodie Lambert (1st) 22-13-4 .615
1977 Bud Fields (1st) 7-11-3 .405 4th Region II
1978 Bud Fields (2nd) 20-14-3 .581
(SEC) (1979–present)
1979 Bob Bertucci (1st) 34-11 4-2 2nd .756 5th Region II
1980 Bob Bertucci (2nd) 40-17 4-1 2nd .696 2nd Region II
1981 Bob Bertucci (3rd) 34-22 3-0 Champions .607 NCAA First Round
1982 Bob Bertucci (4th) 31–7 2-0 Champions .816 NCAA Regional Semifinal
1983 Bob Bertucci (5th) 31–10 3-2 2nd .756 NCAA Regional Semifinal
1984 Bob Bertucci (6th) 25–11 5-1 Champions .694 NCAA Regional Semifinal
1985 Bob Bertucci (7th) 12–24 3-3 4th .333
1986 Bob Bertucci (8th) 22–13 2-3 5th .629
1987 Sandy Lynn (1st) 18-18 4-3 3rd .500
1988 Sandy Lynn (2nd) 23–12 5-2 2nd .657
1989 Sandy Lynn (3rd) 13–15 5-3 4th .464
1990 Sandy Lynn (4th) 12–17 4-4 T–3rd .414
1991 Julie Hermann (1st) 12–17 4-10 8th .414
1992 Julie Hermann (2nd) 13–14 8-6 5th .481
1993 Julie Hermann (3rd) 18–13 7-7 5th .581 NCAA Second Round
1994 Julie Hermann (4th) 10–21 2-12 11th .323
1995 Julie Hermann (5th) 7-25 0-14 5th (East) .219
1996 Julie Hermann (6th) 17–16 6-8 4th (East) .515
1997 Rob Patrick (1st) 15–19 5-9 4th (East) .441
1998 Rob Patrick (2nd) 19–10 7-7 4th (East) .655
1999 Rob Patrick (3rd) 19–13 8-6 2nd (East) .594
2000 Rob Patrick (4th) 23–10 9-5 3rd (East) .700 NCAA First Round
2001 Rob Patrick (5th) 16–11 7-7 3rd (East) .593
2002 Rob Patrick (6th) 20–11 8-8 4th (East) .645
2003 Rob Patrick (7th) 22–9 10-6 2nd (East) .710
2004 Rob Patrick (8th) 32–3 15-1 Champions .914 NCAA Regional Semifinal
2005 Rob Patrick (9th) 25–9 13-3 2nd (East) .735 NCAA Final Four
2006 Rob Patrick (10th) 19–12 10-10 3rd (East) .613 NCAA First Round
2007 Rob Patrick (11th) 11–18 6-14 5th (East) .379
2008 Rob Patrick (12th) 22–10 15-5 3rd (East) .688 NCAA First Round
2009 Rob Patrick (13th) 24–8 16-4 T–2nd (East) .750 NCAA Second Round
2010 Rob Patrick (14th) 25–7 15-5 2nd (East) .781 NCAA Second Round
2011 Rob Patrick (15th) 28–4 19-1 Champions .875 NCAA Second Round
2012 Rob Patrick (16th) 22–8 15-5 2nd (East) .733 NCAA First Round
2013 Rob Patrick (17th) 9-23 1-17 11th .391
2014 Rob Patrick (18th) 8-24 1-17 13th .333
2015 Rob Patrick (19th) 21–12 7-11 T–8th .636
2016 Rob Patrick (20th) 17–14 7-11 T–7th .548
2017 Rob Patrick (21st) 12–15 5-13 T–11th .444
2018 Eve Rackham (1st) 26–6 16-2 2nd .813 NCAA Second Round
2019 Eve Rackham (2nd) 15–13 9-9 T–7th .536
2020 Eve Rackham-Watt (3rd) 12–8 12-8 5th .600
2021 Eve Rackham-Watt (4th) 20–10 11-7 4th .667 NCAA Second Round
2022 Eve Rackham-Watt (5th) 17-14 11-7 T–4th .548 NCAA First Round
2023 Eve Rackham-Watt (6th) 26-5 15-3 T–2nd .839 NCAA Regional Semifinal
Total 8 983–650–16 329-279 5 .602 21

[5]

All-Americans

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Tennessee has 17 All-Americans including two AVCA All-America first team selections [6]

  • Kristen Andre, 2004, 2005
  • Sarah Blum, 2006
  • April Chapple, 1984
  • Leslie Cikra, 2011
  • Nikki Fowler, 2008, 2009, 2010
  • Chloe Goldman, 2009
  • Leah Hinkey, 2010
  • DeeDee Harrison, 2011
  • Kayla Jeter, 2010
  • Julie Knytych, 2004, 2005
  • Amy Morris, 2004, 2005
  • Ellen Mullins, 2012
  • Michelle Piantadosi, 2004
  • Mary Pollmiller, 2011
  • Beverly Robinson, 1982
  • Kelsey Robinson, 2011, 2012
  • Yuliya Stoyanova, 2005, 2006

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "General Information". UTSports.com. June 14, 2017. Retrieved June 29, 2021.
  2. ^ Megargee, Steve (June 26, 2015). "Tennessee set to make move to a lone 'Lady Vols' team". Yahoo! Sports. Associated Press. Retrieved June 26, 2015.
  3. ^ a b Volleyball Handbook 2022
  4. ^ "Eve Rackham Watt - Volleyball Coach".
  5. ^ "University of Tennessee Athletics Women's Volleyball". Archived from the original on 2011-10-03. Retrieved 2011-06-18.
  6. ^ "Lady Vol Duo Earns AVCA All-America Honors - UTSPORTS.COM - University of Tennessee Athletics". www.utsports.com. Archived from the original on 2013-02-16.
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