Tennessee Vols morning report: Women’s SEC Tournament set
The Tennessee Vols women’s basketball team’s seeding in the SEC Tournament leads our Volunteers news for Monday, March 4, 2019.
A huge win for the Tennessee Vols men’s basketball team was the story of the weekend, and it followed with a major commitment from a four-star on Sunday. Yes, we’ll continue the aftermath of all of that with today’s Monday update.
But our morning news on Rocky Top actually leads with something different. We’re going to focus on the women’s basketball team, as they are about to begin postseason play. Regardless of how bad things are on that side, it’s all fresh for them now.
Meanwhile, there’s good news on the baseball front to bring you along with the softball front, and we also have swimming and diving along with women’s tennis news to bring you. But let’s start with the women’s basketball news we were discussing.
Tennessee Lady Vols to open SEC Tournament vs. LSU – SECSports
The Tennessee women’s basketball team dominated the Ole Miss Rebels on the road Sunday with an 81-56 win to rebound from their Thursday home loss to the Vanderbilt Commodores, the worst regular season loss in school history. With the win, they finished the regular season at 18-11 and 7-9 in the SEC, clinching a No. 8 seed in the SEC Tournament. They will face the LSU Tigers at noon on Thursday.
"Teams will be seeded No. 1 through No. 14 in the SEC Basketball Tournament bracket based upon the final regular season Conference standings. Teams that finished No. 1 through No. 4 in the final regular season standings shall receive first- and second-round byes and teams that finish No. 5 through No. 10 will receive first-round byes in the SEC Basketball Tournament."
Rick Barnes comments after Kentucky win – Grant Ramey, GoVols247
Tennessee Vols men’s basketball head coach Rick Barnes spoke with the media Saturday after his team’s 71-52 dominating win over the Kentucky Wildcats. With the win, UT moved to 26-3 and 14-2 in the SEC overall. Here’s a bit of what Barnes said about the victory.
"“From the beginning, I thought our defense was really good. We knew we had to be better intensity wise, and our guys really did a good job. Defensively, it was something we should be proud of. Offensively, there were some guys that struggled. I thought we really stayed in the game defensively and we made plays where we had to.”"
John Currie hired at Wake Forest – Conor O’Neill, Winston-Salem Journal
Former Tennessee Vols Athletic Director John Currie has been hired in the same role with the Wake Forest Demon Deacons, where he completed his undergraduate work. Currie was athletic director at UT for 10 months in 2017 before the fallout from his failed football coaching search resulted in him being replaced by Phillip Fulmer.
"“This is very much a dream come true to have the opportunity to follow in the footsteps of someone who has been a lifelong mentor and continues to be a great friend and adviser, like Ron, is very special,” Currie said Sunday morning by telephone. “To have an invitation from a leader who has done such transformative things for Wake Forest, in Dr. (Nathan O.) Hatch, to invite me to join his incredible leadership team is such a tremendous honor.”"
Vince Dooley on Tennessee-Georgia schedule change – Dan Harralson, VolsWire.com
The schedule change in dates for the Tennessee Vols football rivalry with the Georgia Bulldogs drew comments from a UGA legend. Here’s what former Dawgs coach Vince Dooley said on the matter.
"“As far as I am concerned, if it is okay with head coach Kirby Smart, athletics director Greg McGarity and president Jere Morehead, then it is fine with me,” Dooley said. “I do know that there will be some people that are concerned about it because you do have some traditionalists, so it will be an adjustment.”"
Baseball Vols sweep Cox Diamond Invitational – Eric J. Wallace, Pensacola News Journal
The Tennessee Vols baseball team remains undefeated after winning all three games at the Cox Diamond Invitational in Pensacola, Fla, over the weekend. They are now one of four undefeated teams left.
"Tennessee’s 12 consecutive wins to start the season tie a program record set in 2014. The Vols’ wins came 7-2 over Louisiana-Monroe on Friday, 10-2 over North Florida on Saturday and 6-3 over Western Kentucky in seven innings for the finale."
Tennessee softball wins final game at Judi Garman Classic – The Daily Beacon
The No. 7 ranked Tennessee Lady Vols softball team defeated the New Mexico Lobos 15-1 Friday to win their third straight game at the Judi Garman Classic in Fullerton, Calif. However, their final two games in the event, which would have come on Saturday against the Michigan Wolverines and Oregon Ducks, were cancelled due to rain. Up next for them is the start of SEC play, a three-game series this coming weekend at the Florida Gators.
"The Lady Vols were error-free again on Friday, and have only committed four in the 18 games played. As a team, they have a 99 percent fielding percentage. They are tied with Florida for the second lowest amount of errors in the country, with three teams not committing an error yet in 2019."
Swimming and Diving earns NCAA qualifiers – Braden Keith, SwimSwam.com
The Tennessee Vols Swimming and Diving team posted seven times that rank in the top 10 in school history at its Last Chance Meet over the weekend. Sam Rice was the star with a 14:52.25 men’s mile, ranking second in school history.
"The time also vaults him up to 23rd in the nation so far this season (as of results uploaded at posting time). With just the MAC and Pac-12 men left to swim their conference meets, in addition to other last chance events, he’s very much on the bubble for NCAA’s."
Women’s tennis splits Saturday double-header – UTSports
The No. 30 ranked Tennessee Lady Vols tennis team lost to the No. 2 ranked Georgia Bulldogs 4-0 on Saturday afternoon. However, they followed that up with a 7-0 win over the Chattanooga Mocs that same day.
"Tennessee (10-3, 0-1 SEC) battled closely with Georgia (8-0, 1-0) in doubles on all three courts, but eventually dropped the doubles point to the Bulldogs. On Court 3, Meg Kowalski and Marta Gonzales withstood a rally by Rebeka Mertena and Johanna Silva, 6-4. At the No. 2 doubles spot, Elena Christofi and Vivian Wolff pulled away late to defeat Tenika McGiffin and Maia Haumuller, 6-4."
Men’s tennis falls Friday to Georgia – UTSports
One day before the women’s tennis team lost to the Georgia Bulldogs, the No. 15/19 ranked men’s tennis team fell at home to UGA 4-2. With the loss, they fell to 9-2 overall on the season.
"The Big Orange go on the road next week as they continue SEC play. Tennessee starts the road trip at LSU on March 7 before taking on Texas A&M on March 9."