Lady Vols open SEC with win

The Tennessee volleyball team started SEC play in strong fashion Friday night.

The Lady Vols (6-4, 1-0 SEC) swept Mississippi State 25-20, 25-13 and 25-14 at Thompson-Boling Arena.

Freshman Kelsey Mahoney had 19 assists and 11 digs, scoring the second double-double of her career.

"Anytime that you can open SEC play with a win you are happy,'' UT coach Rob Patrick said. "Mississippi State is a great serving team but Nikki (Fowler), Chloe (Goldman) and Kylie (Marshall) did a terrific job in the passing game, which really helped us to get our offense going."

Fowler led the offense with 10 kills as UT hit at a .255 clip against Mississippi State (5-7, 0-1). Milan Clarke had eight kills. Marshall, Farren Powe and Mindy Flynn had seven apiece.

Goldman had 18 digs from her defensive specialist position.

Tennessee will host Alabama at 1:30 p.m. Sunday.

Soccer: The Lady Vols broke loose with three goals and beat Western Carolina 3-0 at Regal Soccer Stadium.

"At moments we looked extremely dynamic,'' UT coach Angela Kelly said, "and that's the kind of rhythm we need to find ourselves in, especially heading into conference play."

Three different players scored for Tennessee (3-5). In the 43rd minute, Kylee Rossi recorded her team-leading fourth goal of the season. Freshman Chelsea Hatcher won a header and set up Rossi's score.

In the 65th minute, Mick Imgram's cross set up Alissa VonderHaar's diagonal shot for her first goal of the season.

"Mick was serving players in the box all night,'' Kelly said. "Alissa had great composure and executed perfectly."

In the final minute, Devon Swaim scored her first goal of the season with Emily Dowd getting the assist.

"To have three different goal scorers in a three-goal game shows that we're starting to share the responsibility and if we're going to be successful that's what's going to have to happen,'' Kelly said.

The Lady Vols open SEC play against South Carolina next Friday.

Tennis: Five Lady Vols won singles matches and two doubles teams also won on the first day of the Virginia Invitational in Charlottesville, Va.

Rosalia Alda, Caitlin Whoriskey, Maria Sorbello, Jennifer Meredith and Natalie Pluskota won the singles matches. Alda, Meredith and Pluskota persevered through three-set matches.

In doubles, the UT teams of Zsofia Zubor and Pluskota as well as Alda and Meredith were winners.