The NCAA Sunday Selection Show is less than a month away, and games are starting to feel more important. The top teams in the SEC are beginning to rise above the rest to inch closer to a tournament bid.
Week 6 flowed with mostly three and four-set matches, but the week still consisted of high-level volleyball from teams competing for the 2023 SEC title. Here’s the latest of SEC volleyball:
Must-knows: The wins and losses of Week 6
Week 6 started with a Gator win after then-No. 19 Florida traveled to Ole Miss on Wednesday, Oct. 25, and took it down in three sets. Freshman right-side hitter Kennedy Martin hit a career-high .589 and put down 19 kills in the 26-24, 25-23, 25-19 win.
Outside hitters AC Fitzpatrick and Sofia Victoria had 12 and nine kills, respectively. Kennedy Muff set the offense to hit .367 after dishing out 40 assists and three kills of her own.
Then-No. 12 Tennessee traveled to Missouri and took the Tigers down in four sets. Morgahn Fingall had 17 kills to lead UT’s offense in the 25-23, 16-25, 25-16, 25-19 win. Jenaisya Moore helped Fingall with 11 kills and five digs while Erykah Lovett chipped in eight of her own.
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Middle blockers Raeven Chase and Keondreya Granberry shined at the net both offensively and defensively. Chase had seven kills on 15 errorless swings to hit .467 and had her hand in five blocks. Granberry contributed with seven kills and seven blocks.
On Friday, Oct. 27, then-No. 10 Arkansas traveled to South Carolina and won in four sets. In the 25-19, 28-30, 26-24, 25-21 win, outside hitters Jill Gillen and Taylor Head both contributed with double-doubles.
Gillen led the offense with 19 kills on .214 hitting. She also had 11 digs and three blocks to add to the defense, along with two aces. Head finished with 16 kills on .256 hitting and also picked up 11 digs. At the net, she put up four blocks. The Hogs’ most efficient hitter was Sania Petties, who was 12 of 21 and hit .381.
Mississippi State traveled to Alabama and swept it 25-20, 25-22, 25-17. Sophie Agee led the Bulldogs’ offense with 16 kills on .275 hitting and contributed five digs and two blocks to the defense. Agee was helped by Karli Schmidt who tallied in 11 kills on 20 attempts to hit .500.
Libero Lauren Myrick led the team with 15 digs and put up six assists. She also served a season-high four aces and registered her 1,000th career dig.
No. 24 Auburn traveled to Georgia and had its back against the wall before pulling off a reverse win over the Bulldogs. The Tigers got it done in five after a slow start in the first two sets, finishing the match 22-25, 18-25, 25-23, 25-18, 15-11.
For her second-straight 20-kill game, outside hitter Madison Scheer led Auburn with 24 kills and 26 points. Akasha Anderson was the next-highest contributor with 13 points; the sophomore had 11 kills, seven digs, two blocks, an ace and an assist.
Kyla Swanson and Kendal Kemp had seven blocks each for the Tigers. Swanson also put down five kills on eight errorless swings to hit a team-leading .625 percent.
The Tigers picked things up in the third set and were able to hold Georgia to .164 hitting throughout the match. Fourteen blocks and nine aces also helped push Auburn to the five-set victory.
Then-No. 15 Kentucky finished Friday night volleyball with a sweep. The Wildcats took another win over LSU in 25-18, 26-24, 25-18 sets.
Multiple players filled the stat sheet for UK. Brooklyn DeLeye and Reagan Rutherford had 11 kills each on .267 and .318 hitting, respectively. Defensively, Azhani Tealer and Emma Grome guarded the net with a hand in three of Kentucky’s four blocks. The highlight of Kentucky’s win came from the service line with a team total of seven aces.
The first match on Sunday, Oct. 29, concluded in four sets. Then-No. 24 Auburn defeated Alabama 25-18, 22-25, 25-23, 25-22.
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Scheer led Auburn once again with 21 kills on .306 hitting. Bella Bel threw in 12 kills on .435 hitting, and Jackie Barrett finished with four kills on seven errorless swings to hit .571. The three hitters brought Auburn’s offense to a .248 team hitting percentage.
The team also had nine blocks and seven aces in the four-set win.
For the first time in eight years and its fourth-ever win over the Gators, then-No. 10 Arkansas traveled to then-No. 19 Florida and left with a three-set win. The Hogs took the game 25-19, 25-20, 25-23.
The offense was fueled by the Razorback pin hitters. Gillen had 12 kills, and Head had 10. Maggie Cartwright also got involved with 12 kills and three blocks. The win was also fueled by nine blocks and five aces; Zoi Evans had her hand in five of the team blocks, and Courtney Jackson was responsible for three aces.
The Lady Vols concluded their week six play with a strong 25-20, 25-16, 25-22 win against Texas A&M. Tennessee beat Texas A&M in almost every aspect of the game, getting it done both offensively and defensively.
Fingall had the hot hand once again, leading Tennessee with 15 kills. The graduate student hit .419 after only making two errors. Caroline Kerr fed Fingall all night and directed the offense with 33 assists. She also threw in two kills as she led Tennessee to a .349 hitting.
LSU took care of South Carolina in three sets, finishing the match 25-15, 25-13, 25-22. Multiple players contributed to balance the Tigers’ offense.
Jurnee Robinson had 10 kills on the outside pin while Paige Flickinger had six of her own. Right-side hitter Ellie Echter was nine of 13 and finished with no errors. Her nine kills and .692 hitting percentage set career highs.
Georgia hosted Mississippi State and took it down 28-26, 25-13, 25-18. The win was propelled by .236 hitting and 11 team blocks.
Fischer had 16 kills on 36 swings to hit .333 out of the middle. She also finished with seven blocks three digs and an ace. Kacie Evans hit .346 after going 14 of 26 and picked up eight digs.
Setter Clara Brower directed the offense with 37 kills but was also responsible for six of the team’s blocks. She also led the team with two aces and picked up six digs.
To close out Week 6 of SEC volleyball, Ole Miss snapped an eight-match losing streak and avenged a five-set loss from earlier this season with a win over Missouri. The Rebels got it done in 26-24, 25-21, 21-25, 25-14 sets behind 13 aces and 11 blocks.
Bailee Madison had herself a career night for the Rebels; the junior picked up personal highs with 12 digs and seven aces. Her seven aces in a single match are the second-most ever in program history for Ole Miss.
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Overall, the Rebel win was guided by a strong team effort. Three players finished with double-digit kills: Nia Washington had 12, Julia Dyess had 11 and Anna Bair had 10.
What-nows: Conference standings and weekly honors
No. 8 Arkansas (20-3, 10-1 SEC) sits alone at the top of the SEC standings. No. 13 Kentucky (11-7, 9-1 SEC) follows in second place, and No. 11 Tennessee (18-3, 9-2 SEC) takes third.
No. 24 Auburn (17-5, 7-4 SEC) is in fourth, and No. 20 Florida (14-5, 6-4 SEC) is in fifth. Texas A&M (14-7, 6-5 SEC) finishes in the top half of the rankings in sixth place.
Georgia (14-8, 5-5 SEC) is right in the middle of the standings in seventh place. Missouri (13-9, 5-6 SEC) is in eighth, and LSU (9-11, 4-6 SEC) is in ninth. Mississippi State (11-10, 4-7 SEC) is in 10th, Ole Miss (9-14, 3-9 SEC) is in 11th and South Carolina (8-12, 2-9 SEC) is in 12th. In last place in the standings is Alabama (10-12, 0-11 SEC).
Arkansas junior setter Hannah Hogue was named the SEC Player and Setter of the Week after leading the Hogs to two road wins against South Carolina and then-No. 19 Florida.
At South Carolina, Hogue had 48 assists and nine digs. At Florida, she had 31 assists and 10 digs to pick up a double-double. She also had four aces and two kills on the weekend.
Madison Scheer, a sophomore outside hitter for Auburn, received SEC Co-Offensive Player of the Week honors after a strong week on the road for the Tigers. She averaged five kills per set and 5.3 points per set after totaling 45 kills and six blocks.
At Georgia, Scheer tied a career-high 24 kills, which she just set on Oct. 22 against South Carolina, on .302 hitting. Also in the reverse sweep, Scheer put up four blocks. At Alabama, the sophomore had 21 kills on a .306 clip and two blocks.
Fingall was named the SEC Co-Offensive Player of the Week after putting up big numbers at Missouri and against Texas A&M. Through seven sets, Fingall averaged 4.57 kills per set and 1.57 digs per set.
At Missouri, Fingall led all players in the match with 17 kills on .243 hitting. She also picked up seven digs and three blocks. Against Texas A&M, she finished with another match-high 15 kills and hit .419. She also had four digs.
Yelianiz Torres, Tennessee’s graduate student libero, was named the SEC Defensive Player of the Week after leading the Volunteer defense with 5.43 digs per set.
Tennessee’s two opponents hit an average of just .161 and Torres led all players in digs in each match. At Missouri, Torres picked up 21 digs. Against Texas A&M, she had 17 digs. Also on the weekend, she had six assists and an ace.
For the Volunteers’ third and final award of the week, redshirt freshman setter Caroline Kerr was named the SEC Freshman of the Week. Kerr helped Tennessee to a 2-0 finish in week six after averaging 10.4 assists per set. At Missouri, she picked up her fourth double-double of the season after tallying 40 assists and 15 digs.
Against Texas A&M, Kerr dished out 33 assists and six digs. She finished her weekend with 73 assists, 21 digs, four blocks and three kills.
Should-sees: Upcoming matches and big games in the SEC
Week 7 of SEC volleyball starts on Wednesday, Nov. 1, with No. 8 Arkansas traveling to Georgia. The match will start at 6 p.m. on SEC Network+. Then at 7 p.m. on SEC Network, Ole Miss will host LSU.
On Friday, Nov. 3, two matches lead off at 6 p.m.: No. 20 Florida hosts No. 11 Tennessee, and South Carolina hosts No. 13 Kentucky. Both matches will be on SEC Network+, and the Florida-Tennessee matchup shouldn’t be missed.
This will be the one meeting between the Lady Vols and the Gators this season unless they see each other again in the tournament.
Tennessee is led by an experienced roster of big-time contributors, including Fingall and Moore. Because of the two graduate students and other players, Tennessee leads the league in hitting percentage with .293 and kills per set with 14.7.
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It also ranks second in opponent hitting percentage, holding foes to a .177 average thanks to a defense of 14.86 digs per set.
Florida is led by a gutsy team stacked with young talent and veteran players. Although the Gators have struggled through most of the SEC, they’re still a group that knows how to play high-level volleyball.
Following the two previously mentioned matches, two more begin at 6:30 p.m. on SEC Network+. Texas A&M hosts Alabama and Missouri hosts Mississippi State.
Week 7 ends on Sunday, Nov 5. at 11 a.m., South Carolina hosts Ole Miss. The match will be on SEC Network. On SEC Network+ at 1 p.m., LSU hosts Alabama.
The next can’t-miss of Week 7 is at 2 p.m. on ESPN. No. 20 Florida will host No. 13 Kentucky; the two teams were picked to finish atop the SEC competition at the beginning of the season and are both trying to fight their way back to the top.
Both Florida and Kentucky have seen their early struggles. The Gators lost their star player, Alexis Stucky, right before SEC play and the Wildcats had a tough losing streak to begin the season.
The Wildcats also went through the beginning half of SEC without their most productive hitter, Rutherford, who was out with an injury.
While Kentucky has slowly gathered itself to sit in second place in the standings, Florida is still struggling to find its groove without Stucky. The Gators sit at fifth in the standings but have raised expectations for their inevitable downfall after losing to Texas A&M and unranked Mississippi State when they were ranked in the top 10 earlier this season.
Seeing Kentucky gives Florida another chance to prove itself worthy of a national ranking; on the other hand, another top-20 win would only push the Big Blue higher.
The match was originally going to be on ESPN2, now making it the third game Florida has played this season that’s been upgraded to ESPN.
At 3 p.m. on SEC Network+, No. 8 Arkansas hosts Mississippi State. At the same time on SEC Network+, Missouri hosts Georgia.
To finish week seven, Texas A&M will host No. 24 Auburn.
Texas A&M leads the league in blocks per set with a 2.95 average and holds opponents to a conference-low .176. The Aggies’ Ifenna Cos-Okpalla leads not only the SEC but also the country in blocks per set. The sophomore averages 1.77 blocks per set with 126 on the season.
Auburn is third in the league in blocks per set with a 2.54 average, and both of their outside hitters rank in the top 10 in the conference for kills per set. Anderson ranks eighth in the SEC with a 3.45 kill per set average, and her counterpart Scheer ranks ninth with a 3.44 average.
The match will be full of top defense in all facets of the game; both teams are strong up at the net and know how to dig a ball. This must-see match will be on SEC Network at 3 p.m.
