Lady Vols hand Florida first SEC loss in volleyball

The Tennesseevolleyball team handed 13th-ranked Florida its first SEC loss on Sunday with a 3-2 victory in O'Connell Center in Gainesville, Fla.

"I'm just really excited for the players,"UT coach Rob Patrick said in a school release. "They have been working hard for this entire year. This is one of the hardest places to win a match and Florida is one of the top teams in the country. It was just two great and very physical volleyball teams battling each other for over two hours."

Tennessee (17-6, 10-4 SEC) won the five-set match 17-25, 25-21, 27-29, 25-23, 19-17in front of 2,475 fans. It was the Lady Vols' third straight victory against the Gators (19-4, 13-1).

The victory also marks UT's first three-match winning streak over Florida since 1990, when UT won four in a row in the series.

"I was really proud of how our team played the big points really well," Patrick said. "This was a team win. Everybody on our team — even in our practices — had a big say in how we were going to perform here tonight so I couldn't be more proud of them."

Junior outside hitter Kelsey Robinsonrecorded a team-high 20 kills and posted 11 digs for a double-double. She committed just four errors on 70 swings. UT had three players also pick up double-doubles. Sophomore Tiffany Baker finished with 10 kills and 11 digs, while classmate Mary Pollmiller had 39 assists and 14 digs.

Defensively, Tennessee had 19 team blocks, the highest for a Florida opponent since UT recorded 21 in a five-set victory Oct. 30, 2005.

Sophomore transfer Olivia Okoro had a career-high eight blocks, while DeeDee Harrison and Kayla Jeter had seven and six, respectively.