Volleyball plans road to SEC title, NCAA tourney -by Natalie Lester

University of Tennessee head coach Rob Patrick and the volleyball team have set high goals for their performance this season with hopes of not only a SEC championship, but also a NCAA national title.

“I want to win a national championship,” Patrick said. “That’s the only thing we haven’t done here. We’ve won conference championships. We’ve been to the Sweet 16, Elite Eight and Final Four. We’re excited about the next few years because we feel like we have the people on the court who could really be playing for that national title.”

Having finished 24-8 in 2009, Patrick says the team is growing and improving on last year’s experience.

“Last year, we found out we had a very resilient team,” Patrick said. “We lost three starters at different times during the year, which forced us to change our lineups drastically each time, and the players made the adjustments in the most positive manner that you could, which allowed us to play at a high level throughout the season even though we were changing the setters in and out, as well as transitioning from a 6-2 offense to a 5-1. That is a big change and we were able to win big matches playing with both.”

On the defensive side of the ball, the Lady Vols were just as strong, but the team has “big shoes to fill” with the graduation of Defensive Player of the Year, Chloe Goldman.

“Defensively, we did a great job holding teams to hitting percentages far beneath their normal percentages,” Patrick said. “We really need to fill some big shoes in our serve-receive and in our libero positions, but we have a lot of people we can throw at that situation and position. Amanda Friday, who will be a junior, has been on the court her entire career; Jasmine Brown, who may be the most athletic player on the team and Ellen Mullens, who is coming in as a freshman, has a lot of high-level experience. All three of those [players] will be able to vie for that spot.”

Despite these challenges, Patrick still believes the team will be able to claim the top spot in the conference, a goal they feel they were three points away from last season.

“We are going to be a very physical team, especially at the net, in terms of hitting and blocking,” Patrick said. “We are also going to have a little older team, with a little more experience in our juniors and seniors than we’ve had in the past couple of years. We should be able to handle adversity pretty well because of that experience on the court.”

Patrick and the team knows the path to the SEC title must be met with steady wins and strong play.

“To win a conference in our league, you have to be consistently good all year long and play at a consistently high level,” Patrick said. “You have to have a combination of great motivated players and put them in a situation that allows them to be successful. There is also a little bit of luck that goes with it. You are going to play some tight matches, and you’re going to play other teams that are at the top. You definitely go through Florida to win it.”

The Lady Gators appear to be the Lady Vols’ biggest opposition.

“It [UT vs. UF] is a great rivalry, because there are two great teams playing each other all the time,” Patrick said. “We are in a position where we’ve beaten Florida more than any other school in the last five years, and that is something we to continue to work on every day.”

Ultimately, it may be too early to tell for the Lady Vols. The potential is there, but the team must perform every match to attain its goals.

“Physically, I believe we have the potential to match up with any team in the country based on height and strength,” Patrick said. “We will have to wait and see about ball control and defense once we start playing, but if that holds up we could be really good.”

The Lady Vols open their regular season in Houston, Texas on Sept. 3 against the University of Oklahoma and will end with Kentucky on Nov. 24. A full schedule is available at www.utladyvols.com.