The third week of SEC volleyball is complete, and the standings continue to get crazier as the games go by.

This week stuck to the similarities of weeks one and two: upsets, clean sweeps and five-setters. In case you missed the action, the Reveille has all the week three must-knows, what-nows and should-sees for you right here:

Must-knows: The wins and losses of Week 3

The first day of SEC volleyball kicked off on Wednesday, Oct. 4 when LSU hosted then No. 13 Arkansas. The Razorbacks took care of the Tigers in straight sets (25-20, 25-19, 25-20) behind strong efforts from every player who hit the court.

Typical Razorback standouts Jill Gillen and Taylor Head each had their own success on the night. Gillen had 15 kills on a .419 clip with six digs, two blocks and an ace. Her one ace brought her to a career total of 161, giving her sole possession of Arkansas volleyball’s all-time record for career aces. Head had a double-double with 14 kills and 14 digs. She ended the night hitting .273 for the Hogs.

Maggie Cartwright had a shining night for Arkansas as she added eight kills on 18 swings to finish errorless with a .444 hitting percentage. Cartwright was just shy of a double-double with nine digs, and she had two blocks.

The Hogs hit .343 against LSU, and junior setter Hannah Hogue is to thank for that. Three players hit above .400 for Arkansas and no one hit under a .200 mark. Hogue dished out 38 assists and added stats to almost every other column, tallying six digs, three aces, one kill and one block.

The second match of Wednesday was between then No. 12 Tennessee and Alabama. The Tide hosted UT and fell in straight sets 25-14, 25-23, 25-18. The Volunteers hit .315 and were led by offensive production from Morgahn Fingall, Erykah Lovett and Emily Beeker.

Fingall continued to draw eyes in her match against Alabama as she finished the night with 13 kills and a .294 efficiency. She also added six digs and three blocks. Lovett contributed in similar fashion with 11 kills on a .276 clip, nine digs and four blocks. Beeker had six kills and hit .500 to go along with five blocks.

Redshirt freshman Caroline Kerr led the offense smoothly once again, feeding 35 assists to her players while adding eight digs, three kills and two blocks to her stat sheet. The defense for the Volunteers was also firing on all cylinders, with a team-combined nine blocks and 49 digs. Yelianiz Torres anchored the defense with 14 digs, and she tossed up five assists.

The second day of play started on Friday, Oct. 6 with then No. 25 Auburn at then No. 9 Florida. With hopes of keeping itself in the top-10, Florida had its eyes set on another ranked win, but the Tigers had different plans.

Auburn took care of Florida in straight sets 25-23, 25-20, 25-17, to secure the program’s first road win against the Gators and third win overall. The win also marked the program’s first over a top-10 opponent.

Akasha Anderson did what Anderson always does: 18 kills on 35 swings, .400 hitting percentage, eight digs and one block. The sophomore continues to carry Auburn to success, but she’s also helped by contributions from her counterpart, Madison Scheer. Scheer had a night for the Tigers, adding 14 kills on 18 swings to hit a career-high .667 percent. Setter Jackie Barrett finished the night with 35 assists, five digs, three kills, two blocks and two aces.

To continue the day, Georgia went to Mississippi State and took care of business in three (25-23, 25-20, 25-16) to secure its first SEC win of the season.

Tom Black’s squad was led by Sophie Fischer with 16 kills on a .448 clip. She was strong at the net in all aspects of the game, finishing with six blocks for Georgia. Kacie Evans added 12 kills and Ceci Gooch put up eight kills on a .500 mark.

Ole Miss hosted Texas A&M and the match concluded in four sets. The Aggies were led by Logan Lednicky and Bianna Muoneke to finish the game 25-22, 25-20, 16-25 and 25-13. Lednicky had 22 kills, seven blocks and eight digs. Muoneke finished with a double-double after posting 12 kills and 12 digs.

The last match of Friday was against No. 22 Kentucky and Missouri. The Wildcats took the match in four, finishing the Tigers in 25-19, 25-21, 23-25, 26-24 sets. Kentucky was led by Brooklyn DeLeye, who finished with 18 kills and a .375 hitting percentage. DeLeye also added 11 digs.

Three other players had double-figure kills in the match: Azhani Tealer, 16 kills on a .538 clip; Elise Goetzinger, 12 kills on a .259 clip; and Megan Wilson, 12 kills on a .184 clip. Tealer also posted two blocks and three digs in the match. Setter Emma Grome made 57 assists to pass 3,000 total for her career, becoming just the eighth Kentucky player ever to make 3,000 assists.

The final day of week three began on Sunday, Oct. 8 with Alabama traveling to Florida. Despite strong efforts from the Tide, the Gators walked away with wins of 25-22, 29-27, 25-19.

AC Fitzpatrick and Anna Dixon were a force for Mary Wise on the Gator’s side of the net; the two had similar stat lines, with both of them tallying five digs, two blocks and one ace each. Fitzpatrick had 14 kills on 33 attempts to finish with a .394 hitting percentage, and Dixon had nine kills on 14 swings to hit .643 on the night.

LSU traveled to Tennessee and gave way for the Volunteers to secure another sweep (25-15, 25-17, 25-13) on the season. Kerr set her team to a .444 hitting percentage after posting 39 assists and adding five digs, four kills and one ace to the sheet. Defensive efforts from the Big Orange held LSU to a .212 hitting percentage.

Tennessee’s three-headed dragon of Fingall, Lovett and Jenaisya Moore wasted no time on the court; each of the three contributed to the game in multiple ways. Fingall killed 17 balls on 27 attempts with one error to hit .593 and added six digs and two blocks to the defense. Lovett finished with a double-double on the night, tallying 13 kills and 10 digs to hit .417 percent. Moore contributed seven kills on a .316 mark and put up three blocks.

Kentucky went into Oxford and took Ole Miss down in four sets, 25-14, 26-28, 25-10 and 25-11. DeLeye had another strong performance for the Wildcats with 19 kills on 36 swings. The freshman only committed two errors to hit .472 on the night and added five digs.

Tealer posted a .308 hitting percentage after flooring 13 balls and she helped out defensively with five digs and four blocks. Goetzinger had a column-filling night, putting up numbers under every stat line. She also finished with double-figure kills at 10 on a .348 clip.

Mississippi State hosted Texas A&M for a quick three-set match that ended in favor of the Aggies. The Bulldogs were downed in 25-19, 25-21, and 25-19 sets after Texas A&M attacked from the net and the service line with 14 blocks and fives aces.

Ifenna Cos-Okpalla contributed eight blocks to the team total while swinging for seven kills at a .545 clip. Lednicky had 13 kills on 27 swings to hit .296 and also contributed to the blocks with six. Ital Lopuyo had four blocks of her own and tallied eight kills on 13 swings, finishing the night with a .538 efficiency.

Arkansas took care of its second Tiger opponent of the week in four (25-15, 19-25, 25-16, 25-22), finishing Missouri off thanks to strong performances from Gillen and Cartwright. The win makes 13-straight for the Razorbacks, which is their longest winning streak since 2003.

Gillen finished the night with her 10th double-double of the season, flooring 15 kills and picking up 15 digs. Her 15 kills puts her at 1,803 total for her career, giving her No. 2 overall in program history and No. 1 in the rally-scoring era for Arkansas.

Cartwright’s efficiency of .355 was fueled by 14 kills on 31 attempts. She also picked up 15 digs, three blocks and two aces for the Razorbacks.

To end the week of volleyball, South Carolina hosted Auburn for a riveting five sets of volleyball. Every set went to the wire, but ultimately ended in favor of the Tigers (25-23, 22-25, 22-25, 25-23, 15-13) to give Auburn its first win against South Carolina since 2017.

The win was driven by defensive efforts at the net and tough balls from the service line. As a team, Auburn put up 17 blocks and nine aces to remain steady throughout the match. Scheer was the Tigers’ go-to for the night, finishing with 19 kills ona .371 hitting percentage. As for Anderson, she had an underwhelming night offensively, but made up for it with her defense. She had 15 digs, six blocks and four aces, which tied her career-high for aces in a match.

The middles were also getting it done for the Tigers: Kendal Kemp had six kills with only one error and hit .455 on the night while Kyla Swanson had five kills on eight errorless swings to hit .625 percent.

What-nows: Conference standings and weekly honors

For the third week straight, Tennessee owns first in the SEC with a 6-0 record. Arkansas is still behind by one game at 5-0.
After a 2-0 weekend, Kentucky is third in the SEC and stands at 5-1 against conference opponents. Following the Wildcats is a tie between Auburn, Florida and Texas A&M. With an equal 4-2 record in the SEC, the Tigers get the nod on top for fourth place with an overall record of 14-3. The Gators follow with a 12-3 record, and the Aggies sit at 12-4.
Holding its consistent spot in the middle of the rankings, LSU comes in at seventh in the SEC after going 2-3 against conference opponents and 7-8 overall. Tied behind the Tigers is Missouri and Ole Miss. The two are both 2-4, but Missouri is 10-7 while Ole Miss is 8-9.
Struggling to rise in the rankings, Georgia sits at 1-3 in conference play with a 10-6 overall record. The remaining three teams at the bottom are Mississippi State (1-5 SEC, 8-8), Alabama (0-5 SEC, 10-6) and South Carolina (0-5 SEC, 6-8).
Madison Scheer of Auburn was named the SEC Player and Offensive Player of the Week after helping the Tigers pick up two wins on the road. The sophomore outside hitter averaged 4.31 points per set and 4.13 kills per set on a .472 clip over the weekend, including a career-high .667 clip in the three-set win against Florida. She also had a match-high 19 kills in five sets against South Carolina.
Kentucky libero Eleanor Beavin was named SEC Co-Defensive Player of the Week after averaging 5 digs per set in two wins for the Wildcats this past weekend. In the match at Missouri, Beavin recorded a season-high 23 digs, marking her second match with 20+ digs this season. The 23 stat also ties her career high. Against Ole Miss, the junior posted 17 digs, continuing her streak of having at least 10 digs in every match this season. Also on her stat sheet for the weekend is seven assists and three aces.
Ifenna Cos-Okpalla earned SEC Co-Defensive Player of the Week honors after a 2.17 blocks per set performance on the weekend for Texas A&M. She helped the Aggies hold opponents to a hit percentage of .141 during two road wins this past weekend against Ole Miss and Mississippi State. Cos-Okpalla tallied five blocks against the Rebels and a match-high eight blocks against the Bulldogs.
Emma Grome received Co-SEC Setter of the Week honors after leading Kentucky to a .331 hitting percentage on its 2-0 weekend. The junior averaged 13.75 assists per set and had over 50 in each match, becoming just the eighth Wildcat in program history to surpass 3,000 total career assists. Her 57 assists against Missouri and 53 assists against Ole Miss put her at 110 on the weekend, in addition to 10+ digs in both matches and three aces.
Tennessee’s redshirt-freshman setter Kerr took Co-SEC Setter of the Week honors after a 12.33 assists per set average on the weekend. She also led the Vols to a hitting percentage of .373 to complete two clean sweeps. On Alabama’s home court, Kerr dished out 35 assists, eight digs, three kills and two blocks. When the Vols hosted LSU, she had 39 assists, five digs, four kills and an ace while holding Tennessee at a high .444 clip.
With its third of the week, Kentucky takes another honor after Brooklyn DeLeye was named the SEC Freshman of the Week. The outside hitter started the weekend with her third consecutive double-double against Missouri after she tallied 18 kills and 11 digs; she’s the first Kentucky freshman since Madison Lilley in 2017 to have three consecutive double-doubles. Against Ole Miss, she hit at a .472 clip to tally 19 more kills on the weekend.

Should-sees: Upcoming matches and big games in the SEC

Week four of SEC competition will start on Wednesday, Oct. 11, at 5 p.m. as Georgia travels to Gamecock territory with hopes of racking up its second SEC win of the season. The match will be available on ESPNU. Then, at 7 p.m. on SEC Network, Missouri will take on Alabama on the Tide’s home court.
SEC play will resume on Friday, Oct. 13. The first must-see match of the week will be at 5:30 p.m. as No. 10 Tennessee hosts No. 22 Auburn. The Vols have been on the rise, but the Tigers have fight in them with something to prove. The match will be the only one of the week for Brent Crouch’s squad and will be available on SEC Network+.

Next, Mississippi State hosts No. 14 Florida at 6 p.m. The match will be the only one for both programs this week and can be watched on SEC Network+. Then at 7 p.m., Ole Miss travels to No. 12 Arkansas, and the match will also be on SEC Network+.

To close out Friday night volleyball, on SEC Network at 8 p.m., LSU plays host to Texas A&M.

The final day of week four will be on Sunday, Oct. 14. LSU will travel to Georgia and will have first serve at 1 p.m. At 2 p.m., Texas A&M hosts South Carolina. Then, at 3 p.m., Ole Miss will take to Missouri’s home court. Every match will be available on SEC Network+.

At 4 p.m., No. 10 Tennessee hosts No. 23 Kentucky. This is the second must-see match of the week; unexpectedly at the top of the SEC rankings sits the Volunteers, while the Preseason SEC Champion Wildcats are struggling to catch up. Both teams are trying to prepare for the postseason, and another ranked win could only help the odds. The match can be watched on SEC Network.

To finish off the week of volleyball, Alabama will travel to play on No. 12 Arkansas’ home court. The match will be on SEC Network at 6 p.m.