The SEC standings continue to shift as top teams battle against each other with hopes of taking the 2023 SEC Championship title at the end of the season.
As we enter the second half of conference play, teams are also starting to face opponents they’ve met before. Early-conference losses are being avenged while other programs begin to secure series wins.
Week five of SEC volleyball was full of high-level competition, and the Reveille is here with everything you might’ve missed out on:
Must-knows: The wins and losses of Week 5
South Carolina hosted Alabama on Wednesday, Oct. 18 to start week five of SEC volleyball and ended up taking the win in four sets, 25-21, 25-17, 14-25, 25-19.
The Gamecock defense was on fire and is what led to their win. In the match, South Carolina had 60 digs and 12 blocks to limit Alabama to a .200 hitting percentage. The Gamecocks also hit .260 after three players ended the game in double-digit kills.
Riley Whitesides led South Carolina’s offense after going 17 of 32, performing the best she has all season. Whitesides only had two errors to hit .469 on the night and also picked up a career-high 16 digs to tie for the team lead. Lauren McCutcheon finished with 13 kills and nine digs, and to round out the double-figure kills, Kiune Fletcher had 10.
Wednesday night volleyball concluded with a five-set thriller between Ole Miss and Georgia. In a back-and-forth game, the Bulldogs left their home court with a win after taking the match 23-25, 25-23, 25-22, 22-25, 15-9.
Graduate student Erica Staunton led the team with a season-high 17 kills. Kacie Evans and Sophie Fischer followed behind with 16 kills each, and Evans finished with a double-double after picking up 13 digs.
The fifth set was tied 6-6 before the Bulldogs went on a 9-3 run to take the set and match. Despite finishing the match hitting .238, which was just under the Rebel’s efficiency in the game, Georgia stepped up when it mattered most and hit .526 in the fifth set with only one error.
On Friday, Oct. 20, No. 10 Arkansas traveled to then No. 12 Tennessee and, for the first time since 2014, knocked off the Volunteers on their home court. Head coach Jason Watson secured his first career road win against Tennessee after leading his team through 25-27, 25-16, 25-22 and 25-20 sets.
Outside hitter Taylor Head had a career-night to lead the Razorbacks’ offense; she hit .362 after flooring a career-high 24 kills on 58 swings with only three errors. She also secured her 12th double-double of the season after picking up 21 digs.
Setter Hannah Hogue also ended the night with a double-double and set the new record for most digs in a match this season by any Arkansas player. She finished with 49 assists and 28 digs. Middle blocker Sania Petties had 11 kills on 21 errorless swings to finish the match hitting .524.
Then-No. 20 Kentucky hosted Mississippi State and secured its sixth-straight win after sweeping the Bulldogs, 25-20, 25-12, 25-22. The Wildcats hit .330 after three players finished with double-digit kills and hit with an efficiency of .350 or higher.
Megan Wilson hit .385 and led Kentucky with 14 kills. Reagan Rutherford hit .409 after going 10 of 22 and only making one error. Azhani Tealer finished the night hitting .714 after grabbing 10 kills on 14 errorless swings.
The Kentucky defense also played a major role in the win after it limited MS State to .126 and only allowed one Bulldog to reach double-figure kills. Eleanor Beavin had 11 digs and Brooklyn DeLeye had 17 to contribute to the Wildcats’ 52 total digs.
Missouri hit the road and picked up a statement win against then No. 23 Auburn in three sets. The visiting Tigers fended Auburn off with their defense in the back court and their overall offensive production.
Jordan Iliff shined on the front line in Missouri’s sweep; the junior was 13 of 28 and only had three errors to hit .357. She also contributed eight digs, two blocks and two aces. Morgan Isenberg had eight kills on 11 errorless swings to hit .727 and Janet deMarrais was 11 of 35.
Auburn was limited to .168 and had 10 fewer kills than Missouri. Missouri captured this win because they were able to convert for points at a more efficient rate and executed when it needed to late in sets.
After falling in five earlier this season, then-No. 17 Florida avenged its first SEC loss and took Texas A&M down on the Aggies’ home court. The Gators struggled to pull away early in the game but eventually took it 23-25, 25-23, 25-21, 25-12.
Kennedy Martin was the go-to point scorer for the Gators all of Friday night. Martin led all players with 20 points and was responsible for 20.4% of her team’s total points. The freshman filled the stat sheet with 15 kills, nine digs and six blocks.
Outside hitters AC Fitzpatrick and Sofia Victoria also picked up on offense for the Gators, combining for 31 of Florida’s 56 kills. Fitzpatrick was 14 of 36 and hit .306 while Victoria hit .382 after going 17 of 34.
Florida finished the match with 17 blocks to tie its season-high for blocks in a four-set match. The 17 blocks along with 14.75 digs per set limited Texas A&M to .117 and only allowed one Aggie to hit over .200 in the match.
The first match on Sunday, Oct. 22, was a top-20 showdown between No. 10 Arkansas and then-No. 20 Kentucky. In a five-set thriller, the Wildcats stunned the Razorbacks and took it 16-25, 25-16, 25-22, 19-25, 15-10.
Beavin posted a career-high 30 digs to lead the Kentucky backcourt. The junior libero also had three assists and an ace. Defensive specialists Audrey Whitworth and Mia Tuozzo chipped into the defense and combined for 33 of Kentucky’s 85 digs; Whitworth also logged a career-high after she picked up 18 digs.
Star freshman DeLeye continued with her usual business and led the Wildcats with 17 kills. She hit .326 and had eight digs. The rest of the offensive production was mainly sourced from Rutherford and Elise Goetzinger; Rutherford was 14 of 31 and Goetzinger was 14 of 28.
LSU swept Alabama on the Tide’s home court to secure its first win in five matches. The Tigers took the game 25-21, 25-23, 25-20. They were led by outside hitters Paige Flickinger and Jurnee Robinson and middle blocker Anita Anwusi.
Flickinger led the team in kills with 14 on 30 swings. She hit .367 and added six digs, one assist and one ace. Robinson had 10 kills on 23 swings and hit .217 in the match. Anwusi was 8 of 11 with only two errors to hit .545, and she had a hand in four of LSU’s eight blocks.
The Tigers limited Alabama to .194 after digging 44 and blocking eight of the Tide’s attacks. Libero Erin Carmichael led the defense with 15 digs and Robinson followed with 12.
Georgia traveled to College Station and defeated Texas A&M in three sets, 25-22, 25-23, 25-18. The Bulldogs hit .330 in the match and limited the Aggies to .190 after tallying 42 digs and five blocks.
Fischer was 12 of 23 and had just 2 hitting errors to hit .435. She also had four aces and three blocks to make up her team-leading 18 points.
Evans was lights out on both offense and defense for Georgia. Evans had 14 kills to lead the offense and 12 digs to lead the defense. She also hit .480 after swinging 30 times, making her Georgia’s most productive and efficient hitter on the night.
South Carolina traveled to then No. 23 Auburn and pushed the Tigers to the wire. After five sets, the Gamecocks fell short while the Tigers took the 25-22, 19-25, 25-23, 24-26, 17-15 win. The win was full of new career accomplishments and program records for Auburn’s team.
The 58 total assists in the match set a season-high for the team. They also had 16 blocks to limit South Carolina to a .183 hitting percentage.
Madison Scheer led the Tigers and collected new season and career highs from the outside pin; her 24 kills mark a new career-high and the first time she’s accumulated more than 20 kills this season.
Paige Thibault picked up 21 digs and nine assists in the libero jersey, both of which are career highs. Middle blocker Kyla Swanson also had herself a night after she put up a career-high 11 blocks.
To close out week five of SEC volleyball, Mississippi State hosted Ole Miss and continued the trend of five-set matches on Sunday. MS State eventually took the win, knocking their rival off 14-25, 25-12, 21-25, 25-20, 15-13.
Sophie Agee filled the stat sheet and contributed 19 points to the Bulldogs’ 100 overall. In the match, she added 16 kills on a .217 clip, nine digs, four blocks and an ace. Karli Schmidt and Amina Shackelford are the only other Bulldogs who reached double-digit kills with 11 and 12, respectively.
What-now’s: Conference standings and weekly honors
No. 10 Arkansas (18-3, 8-1 SEC) and No. 15 Kentucky (10-7, 8-1 SEC) are tied for first in the standings. No. 12 Tennessee (16-3, 7-2 SEC) caps off the podium at third in SEC competition. No. 19 Florida (13-4, 5-3 SEC) is in fourth, then Texas A&M (14-6, 6-4 SEC) follows in fifth. No. 24 Auburn (15-5, 5-4 SEC) caps the top half of the standings in sixth place.
In the middle of the rankings is Missouri (12-8, 4-5 SEC) in seventh place. Atop of the bottom half of the standings is Georgia (13-7, 4-4 SEC) in eighth place. LSU (8-10, 3-5 SEC) follows next in ninth place, and Mississippi State (10-9, 3-6 SEC) is in 10th. South Carolina (8-10, 2-7 SEC) is in 11th place, Ole Miss (9-12, 3-7 SEC) is in 12th and Alabama (10-10, 0-9 SEC) finishes the standings in last place.
Junior setter Emma Grome received her second SEC Player of the Week and her third-straight Setter of the Week honors after her performance in Kentucky’s two wins against Mississippi State and No. 10 Arkansas. She averaged 11.88 assists per set and led the Wildcats to a .315 hitting percentage on the weekend.
Against Mississippi State, Grome set a new three-set career-high after dishing 43 assists. In the five-set match against Arkansas, Grome had 52 assists.
After helping Missouri sweep then No. 23 Auburn, junior right side hitter Jordan Iliff was named the SEC Offensive Player of the Week. The Missouri native finished the game with 13 kills, the most in the match, on 28 swings to hit .357.
Aside from her offensive production, Iliff also had eight digs, two blocks, two aces and one assist to contribute to other parts of the win.
Kentucky’s Eleanor Beavin was named the SEC Defensive Player of the Week after she guided the defense in wins against Mississippi State and No. 10 Arkansas. She averaged 5.13 digs per set after tallying 41 total digs during the week. In the match against Arkansas, Beavin set a new career-high of 30 digs.
With its fourth SEC Honor of the Week, Kentucky takes home SEC Freshman of the Week after Brooklyn DeLeye led the team in its 2-0 week.
For her third-straight SEC Freshman of the Week honor, DeLeye posted a career-high 17 digs against Mississippi State and a team-high 17 kills against Arkansas. She also picked up eight digs against Arkansas and had zero reception errors against Mississippi State.
Should-sees: Upcoming matches and big games in the SEC
Week six of SEC volleyball starts on Wednesday, Oct. 25 with No. 19 Florida at Ole Miss. The match starts at 6 p.m. and will be on SEC Network+. On SEC Network at 7 p.m., Missouri hosts No. 12 Tennessee.
On Friday, Oct. 27, three games will be available on SEC Network+ at 6 p.m.: No. 10 Arkansas plays at South Carolina, Mississippi State plays at Alabama and No. 24 Auburn plays at Georgia. Auburn versus Georgia is the first must-see of the week.
On Oct. 1, the Tigers defeated Georgia in a tight contest of four sets. Auburn had the homecourt advantage over the Bulldogs last time; with a loss to avenge and home-court advantage on its side, Georgia won’t take Auburn lightly this time.
To finish out Friday night volleyball, No. 15 Kentucky travels to LSU. The match starts at 8 p.m. on SEC Network.
On Sunday, Oct. 29, Auburn will play its in-state foe, Alabama. The match will be on SEC Network at 11 a.m.
The second must-see match of the week is at noon on SEC Network+. No. 10 Arkansas will play No. 19 Florida on its home court. The Gators have had an up-and-down season after some unforced lineup changes had to happen; Arkansas, on the other hand, has only been getting better as the season has progressed.
A top-20 matchup between two gritty, fiery SEC teams–no matter what the outcome is, rankings and SEC standings will be jumbled after this one.
At 1 p.m. on SEC Network+, No. 12 Tennessee hosts Texas A&M, LSU hosts South Carolina and Georgia hosts Mississippi State. To close out week six, Ole Miss hosts Missouri at 1:30 p.m. on SEC Network+.
