Bad news: we have a huge target on our backs. Good news: The SEC coaches have predicted Tennessee will win the conference title! “This marks the first time since 1994 that a different team has been voted to capture the title, snapping at least a 16-year run at the honors for the Florida Gators”.

2010 Preseason Coaches Poll

TEAM (1st PLACE VOTES) – POINTS

Eastern Division
1. Tennessee (9) – 11
2. Florida (2) – 21
3. Kentucky – 25
4. Georgia – 39
5. South Carolina – 44

Western Division
1. LSU – 13
2. Auburn – 19
3. Arkansas – 25
4. Ole Miss – 43
5. Mississippi State – 46
6. Alabama – 49

UPDATE: Tennessee has a video interview with coach Rob Patrick.

We’re into a single digit number of days before Tennessee finally hits the court! But high school volleyball is also getting underway across the country, and today we look at another 2011 commitment coming to Knoxville next year before we start focusing on the 2010 season. (If you’ve enjoyed these looks at the Lady Vols of the future…)

Shealyn Kolosky is a 6’2” middle hitter at Wheaton Warrenville South in Wheaton IL. The past two years her team hasn’t been able to crack regionals in the tough Illinois state tournament. Nevertheless, Kolosky has gotten noticed. For the past two years she’s been on PrepVolleyball.com’s list of top players in Illinois. Last year she was named an honorable mention on a local 2009 All-Area (All-Sports) Girls Team. She’s one of the top 50 volleyball players in the Chicago area according to the Sun-Times. And just recently she was listed on the AVCA Under Armour Girls’ High School All-America Watch List. Kolosky plays club at Sports Performance VBC. Her team finished 9th at the AAU Girls’ Junior National Volleyball Championship, and was ranked 16th nationally.

Tennessee starts off the season ranked for just the 7th time in program history, this time picked as the 19th best team in the nation. That ranking is the highest the team has been on the AVCA Coaches Top 25 Poll since October 2006. Three other SEC teams made the short list: #13 Florida, #14 Kentucky, and #23 LSU. This is just the 3rd time four SEC schools have started off the season ranked.

UPDATE: Besides the three ranked SEC schools, this year the Lady Vols will also face #15 Florida State and unofficially ranked #30 Oklahoma and #38 Ohio.

Congratulations to Nikki Fowler and Kayla Jeter who were named to the Preseason All-SEC team!

2010 Preseason All-SEC Team
Alyssa Meuth, Alabama
Jasmine Norton, Arkansas
Kristy Jaeckel, Florida
Kelly Murphy, Florida
Valentina Gonzalez, Georgia
Becky Pavan, Kentucky
Lauren Rapp, Kentucky
Michele Williams, LSU
Nikki Fowler, Tennessee
Kayla Jeter, Tennessee

We’re only ten days away from first serve for the Lady Vols in 2010, and things are starting to pick up! Later today we’ll get our first look at the AVCA Coaches Top 25 Poll. Tennessee ended last season at #24. Also today, we should find out who made the Preseason All-SEC Team. Tomorrow we’ll see how the conference coaches think the teams stack up when the SEC Preseason Poll is released. Until then you can watch some “Courtside Chat” videos with DeeDee Harrison and Jasmine Brown. And the SEC site is previewing each of their 11 teams that play volleyball; check out the Alabama and Arkansas articles released so far. I’ll be back soon with more!

With the addition of videos from Kylann Scheidt and Carly Sahagian, “Courtside Chats” with all the incoming freshman have now been posted at the official site. You can keep up with these interviews as they become available and catch any you missed here.

Congratulations to former All-American Lady Vol Amy Williamson née Morris (2003-2005), an assistant coach at Tulane, who will now also be the school’s head sand volleyball coach. “I am very excited and grateful to be stepping into this new role. As a young coach, Tulane has really offered me great stepping stones to help further my career. This promotion truly shows the dedication that our athletic director Rick Dickson and head coach Sinisa Momic have in trying to keep our staff together for many years.”

I can’t believe I forgot about this! I posted part one of the look at some of the 2009 records back in January with a promise of “more to come”. Well, eight months later here it is! As always remember this is an unofficial list of course, but I’m pretty sure it’s accurate. Apologies for any errors and to anyone left off.

The AVCA has announced the Under Armour Girls’ High School All-America volleyball watch list for the 2010-11 season. Good luck to the Tennessee commitments on the list: Tiffany Baker, Alston Kearns, and Shealyn Kolosky.

An autographed Lady Vols jersey and mini-volleyball are up for grabs on UT’s auction page. The bidding starts at $20 and ends in three weeks.

Season tickets for the upcoming year are now on sale through the UT Ticket Office. The cost is $42 for 14 home matches.

The official site is keeping up their frantic pace of updates! The latest include a new series of videos with the players called “Courtside Chats” (the first with freshman Ellen Mullins) and roster page updates that include the new headshots and a team photo.

UPDATE: New video with freshman Kelsey Robinson now online.

The official Tennessee volleyball page has a recap of the first day of practice, along with video interviews with coach Rob Patrick and fifth year senior middle Leah Hinkey.

Congratulations to Cameron Harris, Debby Jennings, and Eric Trainer who were honored by the College Sports Information Directors of America. Their efforts creating the 2009 Lady Vols volleyball media guide were judged the 6th best in the country.

The official site has posted a video interview with coach Rob Patrick, who discusses the team’s motivation, physicality, and experience, touches on the players at each position, and talks about the goals and expectations for 2010. My favorite part? The answer to how many players it takes to fill Chloe Goldman’s shoes! Also check out assistant coach Gregg Whitis discussing the freshman class.