Moore reaches 1,000-kill club, No. 12 UT sweeps Rebels

OXFORD, Miss. – Graduate student outside hitter Jenaisya Moore posted her 1,000th career kill on Sunday afternoon, as 12th-ranked Tennessee bested Ole Miss 3-0 (25-20, 25-20, 25-16) at Gillom Athletics Performance Center.

The win marked the eighth straight for the Lady Vols (13-1, 4-0 SEC) and was their 10th sweep of the season. Tennessee outpaced the Rebels (8-7, 2-2 SEC) in almost every category on the day, toping them in kills (44-34), assists (39-34), aces (9-1), blocks (6-3) and hitting percentage (.312 to .233).

Leading the offensive charge for UT was graduate student right side Morgahn Fingall, who had 12 kills on .375 hitting, four digs, one ace and one block. Moore finished with 11 kills for the contest. Junior outside hitter Erykah Lovett added eight kills on .350 hitting, while redshirt sophomore middle blocker Klaudia Pawlik had eight kills on .538 hitting and a match-best four blocks.

Helping guide the offense was redshirt freshman setter Caroline Kerr, who assisted on 39 of UT’s 44 kills and recorded three blocks, three digs and three kills. At the service line, junior defensive specialist Ashllyn King led the team in aces for the second match in a row with three to go along with five digs, while graduate student libero Yelianiz Torres added a pair of aces to go with a match-high 15 digs.

The Lady Vols opened the match on fire, going on an 8-1 run to take the quick advantage. UT would never look back in the set, hitting .242 in the frame and recording three aces and two blocks to go ahead early. Fingall had five kills to pace the squad.

In the second set, Tennessee lead 10-6, but Ole Miss swung the momentum in its favor with a 9-2 run that forced the Big Orange to call timeout. The Lady Vols responded with a 13-5 run to go up 2-0 in the match. The Rebels were held to just .091 hitting in the period, while Moore’s five kills spearheaded the offense.

UT scored the first three points in the third set and quickly turned that into a 10-5 advantage. From there, Tennessee scored eight of the next 10 points to put the contest away. Three Lady Vols posted four or more kills in the frame, giving the Big Orange a balanced offensive front that hit for .556 in the set and converted on 81 percent of its sideouts.

Up Next

UT concludes its four-match road streak on Wednesday night, as the Lady Vols take on Alabama for an 8 p.m. ET first serve at Foster Auditorium. The match will be televised on SEC Network.