The volleyball team is now 7-1, ranked No. 24 in the country and has one non-conference game left before SEC play starts.

Tennessee’s latest win came Thursday evening against Rider in three sets in Knoxville with 10 kills by Hayden Kubik and seven by Mackenzie Plante. Izzy Mogridge notched 12 assists while Caroline Kerr, the reigning SEC Setter of the Week, tallied 10. Senior libero Gülce Güçtekin, who played three seasons at Wisconsin, reached a milestone of 1,000 career digs.

The lone loss for the Lady Vols came in the second match of the season against No. 11 Purdue, and Tennessee entered the top 25 with a defeat of No. 24 Georgia Tech – the team that knocked Tennessee out of the NCAA tourney last season – in the sixth match of the season.

The Lady Vols will host Kennesaw State today (9/19/25) at 6:30 p.m. at Thompson-Boling Arena at Food City Center and then start conference play with two home games against Georgia on Sept. 24 and South Carolina on Sept. 26. Both SEC matches start at 6:30 p.m. and will be livestreamed on SECN+.

SOCCER

Tennessee evened its SEC record to 1-1 with a win at Missouri and is now 7-1-1 overall thanks to two goals by Kate Runyon – the first with the left foot and the second with the right. The Lady Vols had nine shots on goal compared to three for the Tigers with three saves by Tennessee’s Cayden Norris, included a leaping save in the 81st minute to preserve the shutout, and seven by Missouri’s Kate Phillips.

The match at Missouri on Thursday evening followed the Lady Vols’ first loss of the season at Mississippi State last Sunday. That 3-2 outcome was the first time an opponent had scored against Tennessee, which fell from No. 1 in the country to No. 5 – a rather steep drop considering it was the first loss and the first time any team scored. In nine matches this season, only one team has found the net against Tennessee. UCLA, a team the Lady Vols beat in Los Angeles earlier this season, is at No. 4. Still, No. 5 in the country is quite a feat.

“As corny as it sounds, pressure is a privilege,” Runyon said. “I think none of it comes as a surprise to us, maybe the rest of the country. We’re sticking to our process, what we’re about and who we are on and off the field.”

The team now will host three games at Regal Soccer Stadium starting with LSU this Sunday, Sept. 21, at 2 p.m. Texas A&M will be in town Sept. 26 followed by Georgia on Oct. 2.

The Lady Vols have been without forward Shae O’Rourke, who has five goals, for the last four matches. Her injury status is considered day-to-day with the expectation that she will return to the pitch as soon as she is cleared.

BASKETBALL

Zee Spearman isn’t on campus right now for a good reason – she’s in Xiong’an, China, for the 2025 FIBA 3×3 U23 World Cup.

Spearman, a 6-4 senior forward for the Lady Vols, has donned a USA jersey for the third time since arriving in Knoxville via Miami from the transfer portal. She spent May at the 2025 USA Basketball 3X Nationals championship in Mesa, Arizona, and July in Punta Arenas, Chile, for the 2025 FIBA 3×3 Nations League Americas Conference in a story that can be read HERE.

Zee Spearman gets to the rim in practice for Team USA. (USA Basketball)

The U.S. team has started 2-0 in China with wins over Mexico and the Philippines.

The four-play roster includes Spearman, Taylor Bigby of TCU, Kaety L’Amoreaux of Fairfield and Serena Sundell, who played at Kansas State, was drafted by the Seattle Storm in 2025, got waived and ended up playing later in the summer for the Dallas Wings. Spearman, Bigby and Sundell also played together in Chile.

The next two pool play games are against Spain tonight, Sept. 19, at 10 p.m. and Chile afterwards at 12:30 a.m. on what is technically Saturday, Sept. 20. All of the games are being streamed live – and can be rewatched – HERE on YouTube.

Spearman has 11 points so far in the fast-paced action with few stoppages in play. The game ends when one team reaches 21 points or 10 minutes has expired with the team that is ahead declared the winner.

RECRUITING

Saturdays are busy for recruiting in all Tennessee sports – dozens of high school recruits are on campus for a home football game – but it’s rare that any decisions are announced that day.

Oliviyah “Big Oh” Edwards changed that when she committed to Lady Vols basketball via her social media a few hours before kickoff with the words: BIG OH to the BIG ORANGE. I’m blessed and excited to announce my commitment to the University of Tennessee! #GoLadyVols

Edwards, a 6-3 forward from Tacoma, Washington, is ranked No. 2 and No. 4 in the country and No. 1 at her position in the class of 2026. Assistant coaches do the massive legwork required to get a recruit interested, on campus and committed, and her lead recruiter was Gabe Lazo.

She can dunk with ease and will be a perfect fit for Tennessee’s up-tempo system and pressure defense.

Two stories about her commitment can be read HERE and HERE.

Edwards donned checkerboard overalls for the Vols’ game against Georgia, which was attended by Tennessee luminaries, including Candace Parker and Peyton Manning.

Edwards is the first to commit to the Lady Vols in the class of 2026. A signing class of three to four makes sense. The Lady Vols have six seniors on the roster after graduating seven last season, so there will be spots to fill, but the transfer portal will always be in play in the spring, and five super freshmen already are on campus from the class of 2025.

The fall will stay busy since the Lady Vols also are recruiting Jacy Abii, a 6-3 forward from Frisco, Texas, who visited Sept. 5-7, 2025; Brihanna “Bri” Crittendon, a 6-3 forward from Thornton, Colorado, who visited Sept. 12-14; Bella Flemings, a 6-0 wing from San Antonio, Texas, who will visit Oct. 10-12; Olivia Jones, a 5-11 guard from Brooklyn, New York, whose visit date hasn’t been set yet; Trinity Jones, a 6-1 guard from Bolingbrook, Illinois, who visited Sept. 5-7, 2025; and Gabby Minus, a 6-0 forward from Dacula, Georgia, who will visit Oct. 3-5.

Regardless of what ultimately happens this fall, the Lady Vols are on the right orange track.

Maria M. Cornelius, a senior writer/editor at MoxCar Marketing + Communications since 2013, started her journalism career at the Knoxville News Sentinel and 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 will be released in 2026.