Tennessee Lady Volunteers volleyball

Last updated
Tennessee Lady Volunteers volleyball
Tennessee Lady Volunteers logo.svg
Founded1973
University University of Tennessee
Athletic director Danny White
Head coachEve Rackham (7th season)
Conference SEC
Location Knoxville, Tennessee
Home arena Thompson–Boling Arena (capacity: 21,678)
Nickname Lady 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, 2024
Conference tournament champion
1981, 1982, 1984, 2004
Conference regular season champion
1981, 1982, 1984, 2004, 2011

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 Athletic 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.

Contents

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

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

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

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

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]

YearHead coachOverall
record
SEC
Record
SEC
standing
Winning
percentage
Postseason
(Independent)(1973–1978)
1973Kaye Hart (1st)38-6.8642nd Region II
1974Kaye Hart (2nd)8-14.364
1975Diane Hale (1st)17-8-6.645
1976Jodie Lambert (1st)22-13-4.615
1977Bud Fields (1st)7-11-3.4054th Region II
1978Bud Fields (2nd)20-14-3.581
(SEC)(1979–present)
1979Bob Bertucci (1st)34-114-22nd.7565th Region II
1980Bob Bertucci (2nd)40-174-12nd.6962nd Region II
1981Bob Bertucci (3rd)34-223-0Champions.607 NCAA First Round
1982Bob Bertucci (4th)31–72-0Champions.816 NCAA Regional Semifinal
1983Bob Bertucci (5th)31–103-22nd.756 NCAA Regional Semifinal
1984Bob Bertucci (6th)25–115-1Champions.694 NCAA Regional Semifinal
1985Bob Bertucci (7th)12–243-34th.333
1986Bob Bertucci (8th)22–132-35th.629
1987Sandy Lynn (1st)18-184-33rd.500
1988Sandy Lynn (2nd)23–125-22nd.657
1989Sandy Lynn (3rd)13–155-34th.464
1990Sandy Lynn (4th)12–174-4T–3rd.414
1991 Julie Hermann (1st)12–174-108th.414
1992 Julie Hermann (2nd)13–148-65th.481
1993 Julie Hermann (3rd)18–137-75th.581 NCAA Second Round
1994 Julie Hermann (4th)10–212-1211th.323
1995 Julie Hermann (5th)7-250-145th (East).219
1996 Julie Hermann (6th)17–166-84th (East).515
1997Rob Patrick (1st)15–195-94th (East).441
1998Rob Patrick (2nd)19–107-74th (East).655
1999Rob Patrick (3rd)19–138-62nd (East).594
2000Rob Patrick (4th)23–109-53rd (East).700 NCAA First Round
2001Rob Patrick (5th)16–117-73rd (East).593
2002Rob Patrick (6th)20–118-84th (East).645
2003Rob Patrick (7th)22–910-62nd (East).710
2004Rob Patrick (8th)32–315-1Champions.914 NCAA Regional Semifinal
2005Rob Patrick (9th)25–913-32nd (East).735 NCAA Final Four
2006Rob Patrick (10th)19–1210-103rd (East).613 NCAA First Round
2007Rob Patrick (11th)11–186-145th (East).379
2008Rob Patrick (12th)22–1015-53rd (East).688 NCAA First Round
2009Rob Patrick (13th)24–816-4T–2nd (East).750 NCAA Second Round
2010Rob Patrick (14th)25–715-52nd (East).781 NCAA Second Round
2011Rob Patrick (15th)28–419-1Champions.875 NCAA Second Round
2012Rob Patrick (16th)22–815-52nd (East).733 NCAA First Round
2013Rob Patrick (17th)9-231-1711th.391
2014Rob Patrick (18th)8-241-1713th.333
2015Rob Patrick (19th)21–127-11T–8th.636
2016Rob Patrick (20th)17–147-11T–7th.548
2017Rob Patrick (21st)12–155-13T–11th.444
2018Eve Rackham (1st)26–616-22nd.813 NCAA Second Round
2019Eve Rackham (2nd)15–139-9T–7th.536
2020Eve Rackham-Watt (3rd)12–812-85th.600
2021Eve Rackham-Watt (4th)20–1011-74th.667 NCAA Second Round
2022Eve Rackham-Watt (5th)17-1411-7T–4th.548 NCAA First Round
2023Eve Rackham-Watt (6th)26-515-3T–2nd.839 NCAA Regional Semifinal
Total8983–650–16329-2795.60221

[5]

All-Americans

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

References

  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. 1 2 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.