Lady Vols fall in five games to Bulldogs

Despite a Herculean effort from setter Jena Berg, the Tennessee women's volleyball lost a close call to SEC-rival Georgia Sunday.

UT dropped a 30-25, 23-30, 30-28, 26-30, 12-15 decision to the Bulldogs at the Ramsey Student Center in Athens, Ga.

"This is a tough loss to take,'' UT coach Rob Patrick said. "I thought we had some opportunities to take control of the match and we made some errors that stopped some of that momentum we had built up.

"My hat is off to Georgia. They played very good defense and made us play longer points than I thought we were going to have to play in this match."

Berg set career highs for assists with 56 and digs with 24. It was the fifth consecutive double-double for the Lady Vols sophomore.

Leah Hinkey led UT offensively with 14 kills and a .393 hitting percentage. On defense, she had a team-best seven blocks.

In the decisive fifth game, UT led early 4-1 and led late at 10-8. Georgia's first lead was 12-11. The Bulldogs strung together the final three points for the victory.

"We will get back in the gym and work on becoming more consistent,'' Patrick said. "What is great about this team is that every one of the players is very coachable."

UT plays at Kentucky Wednesday.