Lady Vols rally for soccer victory, 2-1

Thanks to a well-placed shot by Devon Swaim, the Tennessee women’s soccer team completed a second-half rally for a 2-1 SEC victory at Mississippi State on Sunday.

Goals by Swaim and Kylee Rossi enabled Tennessee (8-8, 5-3 SEC) to score its second come-from-behind victory of the season and its fifth win in the last six matches.

“We struggled to find a rhythm initially and then found our way throughout the second half,’’ UT coach Angela Kelly said. “In the second half, we were able to combine better in the attacking third, which led to two world-class goals from Kylee Rossi and Devon Swaim.

Swaim’s game-winner against Mississippi State (5-12, 0-8) came in the 79th minute. The play began with a throw-in from Sarah Jackyra. Swaim struck a shot from 20 yards out that sliced under the crossbar and into the upper left corner of the goal. It was her third goal of the season.

Rossi’s goal, her 12th of the season, came four minutes into the second half. She brought the ball across the top of the box and fired a shot into the right corner of the net.

The Lady Vols will host Alabama on Thursday.

Volleyball: Tennessee closed the first half of SEC play by beating Arkansas in four games — 25-21, 25-18, 17-25, 25-21 — at Thompson-Boling Arena.

“Overall, this was a good way for us to finish out the first half of our SEC schedule,’’ UT coach Rob Patrick said. “We knew that Arkansas was a better team than their first-half record indicated and we expected a hard-fought match, which is exactly what we got.”

Nikki Fowler led Tennessee (13-8, 6-4 SEC) against Arkansas (5-14, 2-7) with 20 kills. She also had 11 digs. Mindy Flynn had a career-high 16 kills and a .483 hitting percentage.

Freshman Kelsey Mahoney had a career-high 34 assists. Chloe Goldman had 18 digs.

“Even though this was one of our more inconsistent matches all season from a passing perspective, I was very happy with the way our offense was still able to produce at a high level for most of the match,’’ Patrick said. “Our offense really carried us today and was the reason we were able to come away with the win. We need to continue working on our defensive consistency.”

Women’s basketball: Senior forward Alex Fuller was back at practice, after her left knee took the brunt of a tumble to the court Saturday.

Sophomore forward Vicki Baugh, who is recovering from offseason knee surgery, practiced for about a half-hour.

Lockwood Honored: UT women’s basketball assistant coach Dean Lockwood was inducted Sunday into the Bay County (Mich.) Hall of Fame.

Lockwood, who’s from Bay City, was honored for his playing career in the state of Michigan, along with his coaching career.

Men’s Tennis: Tennessee’s John-Patrick Smith advanced to the semifinals of the ITA Southeast Regional Championships in Lexington, Ky., with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Kentucky’s Eric Quigley.

Baseball: A five-run first inning and five homers enabled the White team to beat the Orange 12-6 in the Orange & White World Series at Lindsey Nelson Stadium.

Despite the loss, the Orange still leads the series, 2-1.

Gary Wilson hit one of the homers, a three-run blow in the first for the White. Cody Hawn and Charley Thurber also had run-scoring hits in the inning. Thurber’s single drove in Kentrail Davis, who finished with three hits, three runs scored and an RBI.

The big first inning wiped a 2-0 Orange advantage.

“Both games we have lost have been close games and we could have easily folded after getting down 2-0,’’ White team coach Bradley LeCroy said, “but the guys came back, relaxed and swung the bats really well today.”

The series continues with a game at 6 p.m. Friday.