The volleyball team starts the regular season with a home match against USF and a short road trip to Nashville for a spot in the Broadway Block Party tripleheader.

The season debut is Friday, Aug. 29, at 6:30 p.m. at Thompson-Boling Arena at Food City Center with a livestream on SECN+. Tennessee will square off Sunday, Aug. 31, against No. 15 Purdue, at 3 p.m. at Bridgestone Arena with a national broadcast on ESPN2. The other matches in the tripleheader are Nebraska vs. Kentucky at 12 p.m. and Illinois vs. Vanderbilt at 6 p.m. All times are Eastern.

“This sport has grown so much, and the opportunities for our players to play in front of that kind of crowd, to be on TV and to be able to showcase our sport at such a high level is really exciting, and we’re really thankful for the opportunity,” coach Eve Rackham Watt said.

The head coach enters the 2025 season with a blend of savvy veterans, transfer portal additions and freshmen.

“I like the experience,” Rackham Watt said.  “We have a number of players who have been out there for two, three, four years obviously starting with Caroline Kerr. Gülce Güçtekin, our libero who transferred from Wisconsin, she’s played in a lot of high level matches. Paityn Chapman is returning from last year. Brynn Williams transferred from Texas Tech who’s been a starter for multiple years there. All of our middle saw action last year. Obviously, Kiki Granberry has been a three-year starter.

“It’s really about settling on what pieces make sense, what players are more ready right now at this point of the season, but as we go along, I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s some changes.”

The full transcript of Rackham Watt’s media conference can be read HERE, and the video can be watched HERE.

Rackham Watt has taken the Lady Vols to the NCAA tourney for the last four seasons, including a Sweet 16 appearance, and knows the expectations are postseason success.

“It’s what we want, it’s what we asked for,” she said. “I look back and think about how far we’ve come, being in the NCAA Tournament four years in a row, and obviously now going into this season, the goal is still the same to be in the NCAA tournament, but to advance and to continue to be at the top of the SEC, win an SEC championship. As we’ve had players in the program longer, those start to become more expectation, rather than goal.”

SOCCER

The Lady Vols soccer team has started undefeated at 4-0 – and has yet to allow a goal even with two top five opponents – and earned the highest national ranking in program history at No. 2 by the United Soccer Coaches Poll. Tennessee is No. 4 in TopDrawerSoccer.com’s rankings.

The team is loose, too, as this friendly competition video shows with the men’s golf team at Tennessee.

Tennessee will return to the pitch this Sunday, August 31, for a road match at Western Carolina at 6 p.m. with a livestream on ESPN2. That is followed by a trip to No. 15/16 Memphis on Thursday, Sept. 4, at 8 p.m. Eastern with a livestream on ESPN+.

BASKETBALL

Coach Kim Caldwell held her first media availability session this week as the team has started preseason workouts. Now in her second year, Caldwell has a blend of veterans, transfers and five new freshmen.

“I think they’re hungry,” Caldwell said. “I think they are excited, which is great. When you have a group that is excited to play your style of play, that comes ready to work every single day, it’s refreshing as a coach to get a new group, especially when you have so many young ones that they don’t know any better, other than to come to practice every day and work hard.”

Two of the transfers brought size and skill in seniors Janiah Barker, a 6-4 forward, and Jersey Wolfenbarger, a 6-5 forward. Both had been recruited by Tennessee out of high school and made their way to Knoxville for their final season of college basketball by way of Texas A&M and UCLA for Barker and Arkansas and LSU for Wolfenbarger.

“I think that she’s going to be a great leader for us,” Caldwell said about Barker. She is vocal. She is leading people. I don’t know that she’s necessarily had a strong leadership role in the past, but we are really going to rely on her to have that here.”

As far as Wolfenbarger, she could thrive as Zee Spearman did a year ago with a new system that capitalizes on her skills instead of just planting her in the paint. Like Spearman, she needs her confidence restored.

“She’s a player that is made to play the way we want to play,” Caldwell said. “She’s so long and so big. She runs so well. She can play multiple positions. We’re still working on a three-point shot. I want her to kind of get her confidence back in that. But she’s really good in transition. She’s good at protecting the rim.”

Freshman Jaida Civil tries to keep the ball away from veteran guard Talaysia Cooper. (Kate Luffman/Tennessee Athletics)

The full transcript of Caldwell’s media conference can be read HERE, and the video can be watched HERE. A short practice clip also can be watched HERE.

Caldwell installed her fast offense, pressure defense and frequent substitutions a year ago to a team that had never played basketball in that system. The returning players understand the expectations, the transfers all wanted a new look, and the freshmen are getting in the slipstream.

“It makes things go quicker,” Caldwell said. “Your on-the-floor communication is better. I’ll watch somebody make a mistake, and I’ll be walking over to talk to them, and a player already has them. That type of leadership is huge, and it will just speed everything up.”

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.