Tennessee will start its SEC slate on the soccer pitch with a road game in Baton Rouge after going undefeated in non-conference play with five wins and one tie.

The conference opener is tonight, Sept. 11, against LSU with game time set for 8 p.m. Eastern. The Lady Vols are 5-0-1 and the Tigers are 2-5-1, not that records matter when SEC play starts.

The 1-1 tie for Tennessee came on the road Sept. 3 against No. 12 Virginia. After last Sunday’s 1-0 win over Northwestern, the Lady Vols soared from No. 15 to No. 5 in TopDrawerSoccer.com’s poll and from No. 10 to No. 8 in the United Soccer Coaches Poll.

Ines Derrien, a junior midfielder, accounted for the goal against Northwestern on a penalty kick. It was Derrien’s first goal of the season, bringing the tally to 11 different Lady Vols who have scored in 2026.

“They’ve done a great job getting us to this point, and now we’ve got to get into a tough SEC schedule starting on Friday down at LSU,” Tennessee coach Joe Kirt said. “I think we have to continue to get better at dealing with the ebbs and flows of games. Teams are going to change. They’re going to evolve. How do we respond to that? And that’s on us to help them through that.”

Tennessee has scored 16 goals in six games this season. Kylee Simmons, a fifth-year forward, leads the Lady Vols with three goals. Simmons, who missed all of the 2025 season at Tennessee because of a torn ACL, transferred after three seasons at Missouri, where she made First Team All-SEC as a sophomore.

The last two games of non-conference play were the toughest for Tennessee with the matchup at Virginia and then last Sunday’s home game with field temperatures of 100 degrees and a delay early in the second half because of lightning and a downpour that send both teams back to the locker room.

“I’m actually really excited that we faced these last two games going into conference play because you guys know how the SEC is,” Simmons said. “It’s incredibly physical, and those are going to be the same games we have from now until November and into the postseason. I’ve learned that we fight through everything.”

Tennessee will stay on the road in the SEC with the second game at No. 16/19 Texas on Sept. 18. The home opener at Regal Soccer Stadium is set for Sept. 24 against Mississippi State. Tennessee will close out the month of September at home against No. 1/2 Vanderbilt on Sept. 27.

“Tough group,” Kirt said. “Believe in them. They fight. They work. They compete for one another.”

VOLLEYBALL

No. 17 Tennessee started 5-0, including a win over No. 21 Indiana, without dropping a set and then ran into No. 2 Pitt on Wednesday in Kissimmee, Florida, at Shriners Children’s Showdown at the Net between the ACC and SEC, and lost in three sets. But despite the reversal in fortunes, the Lady Vols showed several reasons why this season could get them further into NCAA tourney play.

Pitt, 7-0, has now defeated five ranked teams, including two in the top 10 in No. 3 Kentucky and No. 6 Wisconsin.

The Panthers also have two of the best players in the country in Olivia Babcock, who had 17 kills, eight digs and two blocks against Tennessee, and Izzy Starck, who had 43 assists, three aces, eight digs and two blocks. Pitt made it to the national semifinals in 2024 and 2025 and came up one game short both times of earning a spot in the national title game.

Tennessee wasn’t expected to win the match, but the Lady Vols needed to compete. Don’t be fooled by the three-set sweep as Tennessee battled from behind in all three and forced Pitt to seize the match. Kennedi Rogers, the SEC Co-Offensive Player of the Week, and Jalyn Stout led the Lady Vols with 10 kills each against the Panthers.

In the first set, Pitt took a 5-0 lead, leading to an early timeout by Tennessee. The Lady Vols responded to get to 15-11 after a media timeout and closed to 21-16, but Pitt took the first set 25-17.

Caroline Kerr, the SEC Co-Setter of the Week, executed a clever point during the second set.

In the second set, Tennessee took a 6-4 lead before Pitt went ahead 8-6, and the Lady Vols tied it at 9-9 on an ace by Maggie Dostic. Pitt tied the set at 23-23, setting up match point situations for both teams with Pitt prevailing 28-26. Had Tennessee prevailed, the tone and tenor of the match have shifted.

In the third set, Tennessee fell behind 10-4 but then tied the match at 18-18 on a service ace by Kerr. The Lady Vols closed to 24-19, but Pitt ended it at 25-20.

The match revealed Pitt is as good as advertised as a Final Four favorite, and the Lady Vols, who have lost in the first round of the SEC tourney the past two seasons, have a chance to be much better in 2026.

Rogers, an undersized outside hitter at 5-10, has a powerful and fast arm swing that catches opponents off guard and serves at a wicked speed. The sophomore transferred from SMU after one season and has just scraped the surface of how good she can be, especially with enhanced placement on the opposite side of the net with those kills and serves.

Tennessee will be back on the court this Saturday, Sept. 12, at 3 p.m. to host Coastal Carolina in Knoxville before playing the next three games on the road, including at No. 12 Penn State. Stout, who transferred from Coastal Carolina, will face her former team in the Chanticleers.

Both soccer and volleyball are worth a trip to see live whether at home or on the road.

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Maria M. Cornelius began writing about the Lady Vols in 1998. In 2016, she published her first book, “The Final Season: The Perseverance of Pat Summitt,” through The University of Tennessee Press and a 10th anniversary edition was released June 16, 2026. A third book, “The Legacy of Pat Summitt” will be released Nov. 17, 2026.