No. 12 Lady Vols wrap up road trip with sweep of Bama

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – For the seventh time in the last eight matches, the No. 12 Tennessee Lady Vols swept their opponent, besting Alabama 3-0 (25-14, 25-23, 25-18) at Foster Auditorium on Wednesday night.

The Big Orange (14-1, 5-0 SEC) got off to a quick start and never looked back, as the squad posted its 11th sweep of the year. UT outhit the Crimson Tide (10-5, 0-4 SEC) .315 to .139 in the match and also outpaced them in kills (49-30), assists (43-29), blocks (9-7) and digs (49-43).

Graduate student right side Morgahn Fingall led the way for the Tennessee offense, finishing with 13 kills on .294 hitting, six digs, three blocks and one assist.Junior outside hitter Erykah Lovett also posted double-digit kills, recording 11 to go along with nine digs and four blocks in the all-around performance.Graduate student outside hitter Jenaisya Moore chipped in nine kills.

Helping guide the offense was redshirt freshman setter Caroline Kerr, who tallied 35 assists, eight digs, three kills and two blocks.

On the back row, graduate student libero Yelianiz Torres had 14 digs, five assists and one kill. Junior defensive specialist Ashllyn King added nine digs of her own.

At the net, redshirt sophomore middle blocker Emily Beeker led the team with five blocks to go along with six kills on .500 hitting. Redshirt sophomore middle blocker Klaudia Pawlik finished with five kills and two blocks.

Graduate student middle blocker Raeven Chase made her Lady Vol debut, recording one kill in limited action. Tennessee came out on fire in the first set, cruising to a 25-14 victory.

The most impressive thing the Lady Vols did in the period was achieve a perfect sideout percentage.

The Big Orange used a 15-7 run to end the period, as Fingall and Lovett led the offensive attack with four kills each. The Lady Vols got down early in the second set but stayed within striking distance.

After the Crimson Tide took a 21-17 lead, the Big Orange rallied from behind thanks to a pair of back-to-back blocks and two kills from Fingall to end the frame on an 8-2 swing. After a 4-1 run by Alabama to open the third period, UT used a 6-0 run that included four blocks to swing the momentum in its favor. Moore had six kills on eight attacks, while Fingall added five kills of her own to lead the offense.

The defense held the Crimson Tide to just .083 hitting in the frame to clinch the sweep.

Up Next

he Lady Vols return to Rocky Top for a four-match homestretch, beginning Sunday with a contest against LSU. The match begins at 1 p.m. and will be televised nationally on ESPN2. The contest will be our Campers Day. All campers who wear their 2023 Camp t-shirt will receive two general admission tickets for free as well as concessions cash for kids 12 and under. Postgame, there will be a Kids Clinic.