VOLLEYBALL

#9 Tennessee came back from two sets down to beat #4 Kentucky 17-25, 18-25, 25-19, 25-21, 15-10 on Wednesday night at Food City Center in Knoxville. It was the Lady Vols’ first win over a top-five opponent since Oct. 30, 2005, when they beat #4 Florida in five sets, and their first win over Kentucky since 2023. Tennessee has won six straight and is 15-3, 6-2 in the SEC. Kentucky fell to 15-4, 7-2, and lost its hold on first place in the conference.

Kentucky controlled the first two sets, winning the first by eight and the second by seven. The match changed in the third set. Kentucky hit .135 in that set, and Tennessee held the Wildcats to .136 over the final three sets. The Lady Vols took the third 25-19 and the fourth 25-21, then won the fifth 15-10 in front of 5,735.

Chelsea Sutton led Tennessee with a season-high 14 kills and no errors on 26 swings, a .538 hitting percentage, and added two blocks. Jalyn Stout had 13 kills and 10 digs. Kennedi Rogers also had 13 kills and a career-high 13 digs for her sixth double-double of the season. Caroline Kerr ran the offense with 46 assists and 10 digs, her 30th career double-double, which ties her with Natalie Hayward for seventh in program history. Maggie Dostic added eight kills, 12 digs and three aces, and Camille Perry had a season-high six kills and two blocks off the bench.

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Florida went into a sold-out Gregory Gymnasium on Sunday night and handed Texas its first home loss of the season, winning 21-25, 25-16, 24-26, 25-23, 15-11.

The match could have gone either way in each of the last three sets. In the third, Florida erased a 23-20 deficit with four straight points to lead 24-23, only for Texas to close the set 26-24. In the fourth, the Gators ran five straight to lead 18-14, the Longhorns answered with six in a row to lead 20-18, and Florida tied it at 23 before winning on two straight Texas errors. In the fifth, a 3-1 run put Florida ahead 11-9, and Kamryn Chaney finished it with a kill.

Four Gators reached double-digit kills for the first time this season. Middle blocker Alec Rothe had career highs of 17 kills and a match-high eight blocks, Chaney added 17 kills and Logan King had 16 kills, 12 digs and five blocks. Setter Taylor Parks ran it all with a career-high 59 assists, the most by a Gator since 2019, and Lily Hayes dug a season-high 22 balls. Florida outblocked Texas 13-8 and hit .287 to the Longhorns' .256. Torrey Stafford led Texas with 14 kills and 14 digs. #7 Florida is 15-2 and 6-1 in the SEC with its sixth ranked win of the season, its most since 2017. #12 Texas fell to 9-7 and 5-3.

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Nebraska lost a set in Big Ten play for the first time this season on Saturday night, then gave Purdue nothing else. The #1 Huskers beat #13 Purdue 25-13, 20-25, 25-19, 25-14 at John Cook Arena in Lincoln to move to 19-0 overall and 8-0 in the conference.

Purdue led only once in the opener, at 3-2, before Bergen Reilly served a five-point run that included an ace. The Boilermakers answered in the second set with a 6-0 run for an 18-11 lead, Nebraska's largest deficit of the night. Harper Murray's kill sparked a 6-1 Husker run back to 19-17, but Purdue held on to end Nebraska's streak of 26 straight sets and eight straight sweeps. Teraya Sigler took over the third with six kills as Nebraska closed it on a 6-1 run, and the fourth turned at 8-8, when the Huskers scored nine straight points. They hit .500 in that set with 12 kills and five blocks and held Purdue to .029.

Sigler finished with a career-high 15 kills, Murray had 13, Virginia Adriano 11 and Manaia Ogbechie 10, the first time since 2024 that four Huskers reached double-digit kills in a Big Ten match. Nebraska hit .303, held Purdue to .133, blocked 12 balls and dug a season-high 64. Olivia Mauch had a career-high 21 digs and Andi Jackson six blocks. Reilly posted 44 assists, 15 digs and five blocks, becoming the second Husker of the rally-scoring era to reach all three marks in one match. It was Nebraska's eighth win over a ranked opponent and its 61st straight regular-season home win. Purdue fell to 11-6 and 4-4.

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Miami was two sets down at Moody Coliseum on Friday night and had not won a road match all season. The Hurricanes left Dallas with a 22-25, 19-25, 25-22, 33-31, 15-9 reverse sweep of #5 SMU, their first road win of the year and the biggest upset of a night that put 16 ranked teams on the floor. Ruth Martinez, the ACC's Rookie of the Week two weeks running, hit for a career-high 29 kills, and the Hurricanes won a 33-31 fourth set to stay alive.

Asia Harvey added 17 kills and Sonja Danilovic 11. Ariana Rodriguez finished with 54 assists and ended the match with her third ace of the night, the serve that made her Miami's career leader in service aces. Gaby Arroyo dug 22 balls and Lal Akin blocked eight shots. Miami is 8-8 overall but 6-1 in the ACC and has won six straight. SMU lost at home for the second time in five days, after a sweep by #2 Pitt last Sunday.

Pitt had no such trouble. The Panthers swept Florida State 25-17, 25-16, 25-21 before a sellout of 3,005 at Victory Heights, hitting .391 with 11 blocks. Olivia Babcock had 13 kills and six blocks, and Pitt has not dropped a set in six matches at Victory Heights. #3 Louisville stayed perfect in the ACC, sweeping Duke 25-19, 25-11, 25-15 behind 18 kills on .607 hitting from Chloe Chicoine. The Cardinals are 17-2 and 7-0 and host #23 North Carolina, also 7-0, on Sunday. The Tar Heels won their eighth straight with a 25-15, 28-26, 26-24 sweep at Notre Dame, rallying from 18-12 down in the second set and blocking 15 shots.

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