The Tennessee Volunteers women's volleyball team represents the

University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee (officially The University of Tennessee, Knoxville; or UT Knoxville; UTK; or UT) is a public land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee. Founded in 1794, two years before Tennessee became the 16th state, ...

located in

Knoxville, Tennessee Knoxville is a city in and the county seat of Knox County, Tennessee, Knox County in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 United States census, Knoxville's population was 190,740, making it the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Di ...

. The Volunteers (or "Vols") compete in Division I of the

National Collegiate Athletics Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

(NCAA) and the

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities of ...

(SEC). The Volunteers play their home matches in the

Thompson–Boling Arena Thompson–Boling Arena is a multi-purpose arena on the campus of the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tennessee. The arena opened in 1987. It is home to the Tennessee Volunteers (men) and Lady Vols (women) basketball teams. Since 2008, it h ...

on the university's campus, and are currently led by 3rd-year head coach Eve Rackham. 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 Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

. 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 The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

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 Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...

and

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

, as they have the 3rd most appearances in the NCAA Tournaments, and are tied with

LSU Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 near ...

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 a 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.Volleyball Handbook 2022
/ref>

Eve Rackham-Watt Era

On January 10, 2018, former athletic director

Phillip Fulmer Phillip Edward Fulmer Sr. (born September 1, 1950) is a former American football player, coach, and athletic director at the University of Tennessee. He served as head coach of the Tennessee Volunteers football team from 1992 to 2008, compiling ...

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.

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

(SEC) championships.

All-Americans

Tennessee has 17 All-Americans including two AVCA All-America first team selections *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

References

External links

* {{Southeastern Conference navbox 1958 establishments in Tennessee Volleyball clubs established in 1958