Tennessee volleyball was selected as a No. 7 seed on Nov. 30 for the NCAA tournament.
The Lady Vols (20-7) will travel to Tempe, Arizona, to play the opening rounds hosted by No. 2 seed Arizona State. They will play Utah State (23-7) in the first round on Dec. 4 (6:30 p.m. ET, ESPN+). If UT advances, it will face the winner of Arizona State and Coppin State on Dec. 5.
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Utah State won the Mountain West regular-season championship after going 18-0 and then the conference tournament. The Aggies enter the NCAA tournament on a 21-0 winning streak.
The Lady Vols finished fourth in the SEC at 10-5, and they advanced to the SEC tournament semifinals before falling to Kentucky in four sets.
Tennessee is making its fifth straight appearance and 20th overall in the NCAA tournament. It is the sixth time overall the Lady Vols have earned an NCAA tournament berth under coach Eve Rackham Watt, who has led them past the first round three times since she took over in 2018.
Their furthest run under Rackham Watt was to the round of 16 in 2023.
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The Lady Vols, who recorded 20 wins this season for the fourth time in her tenure, began the season unranked. They finished the regular season at No. 18.
Cora Hall is the University of Tennessee women’s athletics reporter for Knox News. Email: cora.hall@knoxnews.com; X: @corahalll; Bluesky: @corahall.bsky.social. Support strong local journalism and unlock premium perks:knoxnews.com/subscribe
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: No. 7 seed Tennessee volleyball to open NCAA tournament vs Utah State
