The Lady Vols are in the NCAA Tournament! They will take on Clemson on their home court at Jervey Gym. Updating as needed…

The Tigers are 22-9 and 14-6 in the ACC.

Also playing at Clemson will be 12th seed (AVCA #21) Utah (24-5) and Furman (21-13).

If Tennessee makes it out of South Carolina, they would play in the Seattle Regional.

The bracket is now online. Tennessee will play Clemson on Friday, December 5th.

Tennessee leads the all time series with Clemson 4-1. The Lady Vols’ lone loss was in 1980. Their last win was 1988.

Clemson has the story.

This will be Tennessee’s 10th appearance in the NCAA Tournament, and their 5th under Rob Patrick. The team is 6-3 in first round matches.

Tennessee has the story.

While we’re waiting for the tournament announcements, here are some video interviews a few members of the team did this season.

• Milan Clarke
• Farren Powe
• Kelsey Mahoney
• Chloe Goldman did an interview as well but it doesn’t seem to be in the archives

The Lady Vols will learn whether their season continues tonight. ESPNU will air the NCAA Selection Show this evening at 10pm ET. The 64 team field and the first round pairings and locations will be announced.

• NCAA Championship site
• Championship Host site
• Tournament Bracket

Tennessee finished off the season in exciting style, defeating both Kentucky and Auburn — the teams at the top and bottom of the conference — 16-14 in a fifth set! Kylie Marshall notched her third double-double of the season. Four players matched or exceeded career highs.

• Tennessee ends the regular season going 12-1 in their last 13 matches. That ties for the best 13 match regular season ending stretch in school history. The 2004 squad also went 12-1 in their last 13.

• Tennessee will finish 2008 with 10 losses or less, the 10th such season in UT history and the 6th during Rob Patrick’s 12 years.

• The last three matches Tennessee has played (South Carolina, Auburn, and Kentucky) have all went to 5 sets. This is only the 4th time is school history the Lady Vols have played three 5 set matches in a row. It is the first time they have ever won three 5 set matches in a row.

• The win over Kentucky prevented the Wildcats from winning a share of the conference, ensuring that Tennessee remains the only team in 17 years to win an SEC title other than Florida.

• Tennessee put up season highs in kills, attacks, and assists vs Kentucky.

• For the second season in a row the Lady Vols experienced an unexpected in-game delay in their second to last conference match of the season. Against Auburn last week a tripped fire alarm delayed the match for half an hour as the building was evacuated and the fire department called in. Last season water dripping onto the court from a leaky rook delayed the match against Kentucky for an hour while a new court was taped onto a different location of the floor.

• Career bests matched or exceeded:
- Milan Clarke: attacks and blocks
- Amanda Friday: aces and digs
- Kelsey Mahoney: assists
- Kylie Marshall: kills and points

Tennessee defeats Kentucky tonight, preventing them from winning a share of the conference title. The score was 3-2 (21-25, 26-24, 22-25, 25-21,16-14). What may have been the biggest Tennessee away crowd of the season was on hand for the big win over the #17 team in the country. Much more in a few hours.

UPDATE: OK, not “much more”! It’s 2am and I’m heading to bed! But here are the story and stats from Tennessee and Kentucky.

Happy Thanksgiving! Tennessee finishes the regular season tomorrow at #17 Kentucky. Since it’s a holiday I’m going to keep this short.

• Since my ban on posting photos I’ve been turned mainly into a stats site. And this may be the stat of the season. Tennessee is 10-6 away from Thompson-Boling Arena this season. But, in the seven away matches played when I have been in attendance, they are 7-0! I don’t want to overstate my apparent importance to the team so I’ll just leave it at that. But to answer the question I know is on everyone’s mind — yes, I will be in Lexington tomorrow! ;)

• On a more serious note… This week former Kentucky volleyball star Jenni Casper was killed in a car accident. Casper played from 2003 to 2006. She was twice named the SEC Defensive Player of the Year. When she finished her career she was the all-time conference career digs leader. Condolences to the Casper family and the Wildcats athletic program.

• Kentucky (26-4, 17-2) | match notes
UK leads the all time series 39-23, and has won the last five.
UT lost earlier this year 3-1 (25-19, 20-25, 25-17, 25-19).
Game time is Wednesday, November 28th at 7:00pm ET
Follow the match with Gametracker. Live video streaming should be available from the UK website. Or if you’re in Knoxville, why not just make the short 2.5 hour drive up to Memorial Coliseum to support the team!

With a win over South Carolina, Florida has clinched at least a share of the SEC title for the 18th year in a row. A Tennessee win over Kentucky would give Florida the title outright. With the win over Auburn on Sunday, Tennessee secured a third place finish in the conference.

With 11 wins in their last 12 matches, the Lady Vols are back in the national rankings — barely! In the latest AVCA poll Tennessee received 7 votes. Unofficially, that makes the Lady Vols the 35th ranked team in the nation.

Auburn is giving Tennessee all they can handle. In the fifth set UT leads 8-7. A fire alarm in the building has delayed the match for the past 30 minutes. The teams are warming up and play should begin soon.

UPDATE: Tennessee wins 3-2 (23-25, 25-11, 25-19, 20-25, 16-14). Kylie Marshall had a double-double with 14 kills and 14 digs. Nikki Fowler and Milan Clarke also notched double-digit kills (Mindy Flynn may have as well, if not she was close). More later.

UPDATE 2: What a road trip! On Saturday I went to see the football team from my second favorite school play an Alabama-based team they were expected to beat easily — but they just barely won with a last minute score. Then Sunday I go to see the volleyball team from my alma mater play an Alabama-based team they were expected to beat easily — but they just barely scrape past them in the fifth set! A nerve-wracking weekend, but both teams kept it exciting! Tennessee has the story.

Tennessee gets a Friday night off this weekend before traveling to Auburn on Sunday. I’m hoping to make the match. Right now my plan is to go to the East Carolina vs UAB football game in Birmingham, Alabama on Saturday night before heading down to Auburn Sunday morning for the volleyball game. Of the five away matches I’d planned on going to this year, two of them got scrubbed the day before. So I’m crossing my fingers that nothing comes up this time! I’m assuming my ban on photo posting applies to away games too, so no pics I’m afraid!

• In the 29 matches Auburn has played this year they have utilized over 20 different starting line-ups.

• Since the 1999 season, Tennessee has won 14 of the last 15 match-ups against Auburn, the lone loss being last year. Their set record vs Auburn in that time is 45-9.

• Only twice in the 35 times the teams have met has the match gone to five sets: a loss in 1991 and a win in 1993.

• The win against Auburn earlier this year gave Coach Patrick his 230th win at Tennessee — a school record.

• Every non-first year player on the team except Nikki Fowler and Laurén LaFlamme have at least one current career high against Auburn.

• Auburn (6-23, 1-17)
Tennessee leads the all time series 22-12-1.
Tennessee won earlier this year 3-0 (25-15, 25-23, 28-26).
Game time is Sunday, November 23rd at 1:30pm CT
Follow the match with Gametracker

Tennessee split their last home matches of the season, falling to Florida but defeating South Carolina. Four players matched or exceeded career highs this weekend.

• Tennessee is 9-39-1 all time vs Florida, and 27-25 all time vs South Carolina.

• Two Lady Vols jumped into the record books after this weekend’s matches. With 307 blocks, Mindy Flynn is now #10 on Tennessee’s career blocks chart. And with 953 digs, Kylie Marshall is now #10 on the career digs list.

• Tennessee is 9-3 in regular season home closing matches under Coach Patrick.

• With their 13th SEC win of the season, the Lady Vols have tied their second best regular season conference win total. The 2005 squad went 13-3, while the 2004 team went 15-1.

• Tennessee finished with a home record of 11-3 this season. Their only losses were to teams currently ranked in the top 25: #16 Illinois, #19 Kentucky, and #14 Florida.

• Against Florida on Friday, the Lady Vols broke the home attendance mark of 1,000 for only the fourth time in school history. All but one of those matches were against the Gators.

• Tennessee has now won at least 20 matches 17 times in the past 36 seasons. Coach Patrick has done it 6 times in his 12 seasons. (Three other years he just missed that mark with 19 wins.)

• Since they are splitting setting duties this season, Kelsey Mahoney and Michaela Hanakova are also splitting the assists stats and maybe not getting as much attention compared to other setters who play full-time. However, if you combine their stats they compare very favorably to the rest of the SEC setters. Mahoney has 605 assists, while Hanakova has 534. That’s a combined total of 1139 assists with 10.95 assists per set.

                      assists   per set
Murphy/Bathelt, UF       982     11.16
Mahoney/Hanakova, UT    1139     10.95
B. Denson-Dorman, SC    1014     10.47
S. Rumely, UK           1091     10.39
K. Gates, UGA           1013      9.74

• Mindy Flynn, better known for her hitting and blocking skills, is kicking it up a notch in another stat. On Friday she broke her career best record with 7 digs then just missed doing it again with 6 digs on Sunday, making this her best weekend ever in that category. Her previous best weekend was in a three match stretch at the Lady Vol Classic in 2006, where she dug up 9 balls. The 13 digs was also her best back to back match total. Twice she has notched 10 digs over a two match stretch — the last matches of the 2006 season, and earlier this year. In the five matches so far in November (with two still to go) she has had 26 digs. Her previous best months are September and October of 2006 where she had 30 digs over 12 matches and 27 digs over 9 matches, respectively. (Yes, I may have too much time on my hands today!)

• Amanda Friday got the first ace of her career, and did it vs the #12 team in the country!

• Career bests matched or exceeded this weekend
Mindy Flynn: digs
Chloe Goldman: aces and points
Alyssa Hilby: attacks, digs, and blocks
Kelsey Mahoney: assists

Tennessee gets a tough win over South Carolina 3-2 (25-27, 25-22, 26-28, 25-16, 15-10). In their last home match the seniors delivered! Milan Clarke had 17 kills and hit .317. Mindy Flynn had 11 kills and 6 digs. And her 7 blocks put her on the career blocks top ten chart. Nikki Fowler led the offence with 22 kills. Chloe Goldman led the defense with 24 digs. Lots more coming soon.

UPDATES: More stats! Alyssa Hilby had a career high 8 blocks. Kylie Marshall had 16 digs and 4 blocks. Farren Powe had 12 kills and hit .476. She also had 5 digs and 3 blocks. Kelsey Mahoney had a career high tying 34 assists. Michaela Hanakova had 22 assists. Besides her 24 digs, Goldman also had 5 assists and a career high tying 3 aces.

Tennessee and South Carolina have the story.

The Lady Vols lost a hard fought match tonight againt the #12 Gators 3-0 (25-23, 25-18, 25-23). More coming soon.

UPDATE: Tennessee and Florida have the stories. Florida’s Kelly Murphy had a triple double. Mindy Flynn led the Vols in kills with 10, and also had 7 digs and 2 blocks. Nikki Fowler had 6 kills, 2 blocks, and a team leading 15 digs. Alyssa Hilby had 6 blocks. Milan Clarke had 5 kills and 3 blocks. Farren Powe had 5 kills and 2 blocks. Chloe Goldman had 14 digs and Kylie Marshall had 10. Kelsey Mahoney had 20 assists, while Michaela Hanakova added in 10 of her own. 1,097 people attended the match, making it the 4th largest home crowd for the Lady Vols.

Coach Patrick, 2005: “Mindy is going to come in and definitely be one of our most versatile hitters, because not only has she played middle hitter for many years at a high level, but also right side and outside hitter… Mindy has very good volleyball skills and is equally adept at playing front row and back row. She will cause match-up problems for opponents, because she can hit a variety of tempo sets.”

Coach Patrick, 2008: “Mindy has been a stalwart in our lineup and integral to our successes over the past few years. It was not a coincidence that the level of our play dipped last year when she was injured. Mindy is able to play any of the front three positions as well as contribute in the back row. We are excited to get her back on the court this year because her high volleyball IQ really helps to raise the level of our total team play.”

Most good teams have a type of player who sometimes gets taken for granted by the fans, but whom coaches wish they had more of. These players may get huge numbers but end up just behind someone else in the box score. These selfless athletes quietly rack up stats and dependably put in solid performances week in and week out without getting the accolades they deserve. Mindy Flynn has had four amazing seasons but has always seemed to have someone else just in front of her getting most of the spotlight. And very much to her credit, it seems the spotlight is not something she craves. She’s been an extremely reliable athlete who gets the job done over and over again and always puts the team’s needs in front of her own. (more…)

Coach Patrick, 2005: “Milan is an athlete who came in during the summer and is going to be ready for the season. She is going to feel comfortable playing with her teammates, because she’s been around them, working out and getting stronger. She has a high level of skill in controlling the ball, playing defense and passing. She is also a physical hitter who can terminate almost any set that comes her way.”

Coach Patrick, 2008: “Milan has really developed a great focus on volleyball and her individual improvement. Physically, she is more prepared coming into this season than at any other time of her career. She made great strides this spring attacking the ball as well as in her ball control. Her experience will be integral to our success this season, especially with so many newcomers to our team.”

Milan is one of the most energetic, emotional, and fervent players on the team. When things are going right you can see the excitement on her face. When things aren’t so good you see determination, not disappointment. Sometimes that manifests itself as tougher play, and sometimes a tougher attitude. When Coach Patrick starts screaming at intensely instructing his team, Milan is the only player I’ve seen who can stand up and go toe to toe with him — whether or not its the best idea is another discussion! Players like that are always the most fun to watch because you can tell they’re just as emotionally invested in the outcome of the game as the fans are! (more…)