Lady Vols take on Blue Devils in NCAA Championship Opener – Volleyball News
The Lady Volunteers of University of Tennessee (UT) are scheduled to open the NCAA tournament on Thursday, December 1 at the Thompson-Boling Arena. They will meet the Blue Devils of Duke University in the championship opener. Lady Vols will enter the competition
under the command of Head Coach, Rob Patrick, who has been with the Tennessee squad for the past 15 years. This year, he led the team to a SEC Championship title and enabled them to earn the No. 14 seed. It was not a bad record but Patrick wanted a higher
seed for his team. The coach is hoping that Vols will get a hold of the NCAA title.
In order to go to the top, Volunteers will be required to displayed flawless performance in all of their matches. The match against Duke will be the first test of their skills in the tournament. However, this is the not the first time that these two teams
will clash on centre court. Previously, Devils fell 3-1 to Tennessee in the last trip to Knoxville, but went for redemption with 3-1 win in the 2006 meeting on Tennessee's home court.
Recently, the Lady Vols completed their regular season with a 27-3 record, while Blue Devils closed off after winning 21 matches at the expense of 8 losses.
The team roster of Duke is equipped with a variety of players who have plenty of experience. The senior quartet of Kayla Kirk, Kellie Catanach, Sophia Dunworth, and Amanda Robertson is big threat for the rivals. The quartet has done exceptionally well in
the past and they have guided the team to NCAA berths in each of their four seasons while playing in 9 NCAA matches.
Kellie Catanach was recently named the All-ACC team for the third straight year. Furthermore, she was joined on the all-conference squad by junior middle blocker Christiana Gray and sophomore libero Ali McCurdy. McCurdy also settled for the award of the
ACC Defensive Player of the Year.
Once again the Dukes are up to repeat the great action against Volunteers. If Blue Devils manage to win against Lady Vols, they would move on to the second round where it would face the winner of Ohio State and Middle Tennessee.
Nevertheless, the Lady Vols cannot be taken as a weak opponent. They have a winning streak of 12 matches and it would be difficult for any team in the tournament to beat them easily. Furthermore, they have a great winning record at home court. They dropped
only three matches at home turf, which makes them very threatening for Dukes.
For Vols, the 2011 season started on a gloomy note when senior captain and All-SEC player Kayla Jeter suffered a season-ending knee injury but still they managed to build a very good record and did not disappoint her fans. They have fair prospects to win
the first match of NCAA Tournament against Duke University.
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