University of Georgia
5-8, 0-1
Tennessee
15-2, 1-1
Bulldogs Swept By Tennessee
September 27, 2015 | Volleyball
Sept. 27, 2015
ATHENS, Ga. --- The Georgia volleyball team (5-8, 0-1) dropped its first Southeastern Conference match of the season, as Tennessee (15-2, 1-1) swept the Bulldogs by scores of 25-15, 25-18 and 25-21.
"It was a disappointing showing," said head coach Lizzy Stemke. "I'm surprised at how flat we came out considering our week of practice. We had a tremendous week of preparation with tremendous effort and fight. I don't have an explanation of why we were flat. I felt like we would go on some runs, but when it got tight or we were down one or two points, we struggled turning that tide. We certainly need to be a bit more resilient."
Redshirt junior Megan Spencer led the home team with nine kills, as she hit .471 in the match with just one attack error, and four blocks. Fellow classmate Desiree McCray followed with seven kills and three blocks, joining redshirt senior Jasmine Eatmon who also had a trio of stops.
The Tennessee offense came out firing in the first set, hitting .281 for the frame. With Georgia up 6-5 after a kill from sophomore Kendall Kazor, the Volunteers went on a 13-3 run to pull ahead 18-9 en route to the 25-15 win. Eight attack errors and four service errors hurt Georgia in the second set, as Tennessee took advantage to go up 2-0 at the break.
Georgia had its best offensive outing in the third set, as Spencer had six of Georgia's 12 kills. After a Spencer slam, Tennessee called a timeout with Georgia holding a 13-8 lead. A back row kill from freshman Caroline Ostman lifted the Bulldogs to 17-13, but the Vols rolled out seven-consecutive points to take over the lead at 20-17 and carried the momentum to the sweep.
Georgia returns to the court on Friday, Oct. 2 against LSU. The SEC match is slated to begin at 7 p.m. ET on SEC Network+/WatchESPN.
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