We’re just under two months away from the beginning of postseason play, and teams are starting to fight for the top spot and potential at-large bids. In Week 4 of SEC volleyball, the standings were jumbled and top teams were taken down.
As usual, the Reveille is here with everything you missed out on in Week 4 including the must-knows, the what-nows and the should-sees:
MORE VOLLEYBALL: Week 3 of SEC Volleyball
Must-knows: The wins and losses of Week 4
On Wednesday, Oct. 11, South Carolina hosted Georgia for a four-set defeat. South Carolina took the win 25-22, 20-25, 25-18, 25-16 to secure its first SEC win of the season.
The Gamecocks were led by Campbell Paris after the freshman posted 18 kills and hit .483 on the night. Just behind her was Kiune Fletcher with 13 kills and a .423 hitting percentage. The middles were also firing on all cylinders, finishing the night with a combined 13 kills on 23 errorless swings.
Missouri traveled to Alabama and walked away with a 3-0 sweep. The match ended 25-22, 30-28, 25-20.
Janet deMarrais had a career-high 24 kills on a .400 hitting percentage to lead the Tigers and added seven digs. Dilara Gedikoglu had 13 kills on .370 with 14 digs and Jordan Iliff had 12 kills and eight digs on the night. She also hit .360 and served two aces for the Tigers.
To start Friday night SEC play, then No. 10 Tennessee hosted then No. 22 Auburn and took the win in four sets. It was a tight contest, but the Lady Vols eventually capped it off 25-19, 21-25, 25-21, 25-17.
Right side Morgahn Fingall and outside Erykah Lovett both contributed to the stat sheet with double-doubles on the night. Fingall led the Vols with 21 kills to hit .277 while also adding 12 digs. She was also a part of three blocks. Lovett followed with 13 kills on a .235 clip and led the team with 17 digs to complete her fifth double-double of the season.
For the first time in program history, Mississippi State took Florida down on Bulldog territory. Head coach Julie Darty Dennis led her Bulldog squad to a 3-1 win over the 14th-ranked Gators in 25-18, 20-25, 27-25 and 25-21 sets.
Amina Shackelford led the way for MS State after reaching 18 kills on a .469 clip. She was helped by Sophie Agee, who added 16 kills and seven digs.
As a team, the Bulldogs hit .338 and limited Florida’s offense with 12 total blocks. The Bulldogs also had five aces on the night. Although the Gators hit .250 and kept up with MS State throughout the match, the offense relied heavily on the pins who couldn’t terminate for kills. Bulldog pin hitters were high in kills on fewer attempts, and that’s what propelled the team to success.
Ole Miss traveled to then No. 12 Arkansas and was swept 25-21, 25-16, 25-18. Maggie Cartwright led the offense from the pin with 14 kills on 21 swings. She finished the night hitting .619 and had a career-high five service aces in the match. Taylor Head and Jill Gillen contributed like they usually do, with 13 and 12 kills each, respectively.
To finish Friday night SEC volleyball, LSU hosted Texas A&M and was defeated in four sets. The Tigers took the second set after dropping a close first set, but ultimately the Aggies took the win in 25-23, 16-25, 25-21 and 25-16 set performances.
Bianna Muoneke and Caroline Meuth both had double-doubles on the night; Muoneke finished with 13 kills and 11 digs, and Meuth finished with 11 kills and 13 digs. Logan Lednicky also contributed 14 kills with four digs and she blocked four LSU attempts.
Beginning the last day of week four volleyball, Georgia hosted LSU on Sunday, Oct. 15, and sent the Tigers home with a four set loss. The Bulldogs took the game thanks to 11 blocks and seven aces in 25-22, 26-28, 25-21 and 25-22 sets.
Sophie Fischer had 17 kills in the match and hit .429 after only committing two errors on 35 swings. She also had nine blocks, four digs and two aces. Kacie Evans contributed 17 kills from the pin and picked up 14 digs.
Bulldog setter Clara Brower had a double-double in the match, tallying 47 assists and 16 digs. Brower also had five blocks, two kills and an ace.
Texas A&M hosted South Carolina and took care of the Gamecocks in straight sets, 25-21, 25-22, 25-20. The Aggies were led by Meuth’s 17 kills on a .364 hitting percentage and Lednicky’s nine kills on a .320 clip. Meuth also added 16 digs and eight blocks to help the Aggies to their fourth-straight win.
Missouri hosted Ole Miss and the two teams fought to the very end in five back-and-forth sets of volleyball. In the end, the Tigers pulled off the win in 26-24, 18-25, 21-25, 25-23 and 15-6 sets.
Several players contributed to the five-set win, but leading the Tigers once again was deMarrais with another incredible offensive performance. She registered a career-high 30 kills on 78 attempts to hit .269 on the night and picked up 13 digs to complete her ninth straight double-double. She also added two blocks and an ace.
Sierra Dudley fed her hitters the best she ever has, tallying a career-high 60 assists. Also, for her seventh double-double of the season, the freshman made 12 digs. Tiger libero, Maya Sands, also had a career-night, picking up 30 digs to set a new career-high.
In a top 25 matchup, then No. 23 Kentucky traveled to Knoxville, Tennessee and stunned the 10th-ranked Volunteers with a straight-set win. In 25-20, 26-24 and 27-25 sets, the Wildcats handed Tennessee its first loss of SEC play to avenge an earlier three-set loss to the Vols.
Three Kentucky players were in double figure kills thanks to 42 assists from Emma Grome. She also had six digs, two kills, one block and one ace. Her three go-to hitters in the match were Elise Goetzinger, Brooklyn DeLeye and Azhani Tealer.
Goetzinger had 12 kills on 19 swings with no errors to lead the Wildcats with a .632 hitting percentage. She also had her hand on four of Kentucky’s eight blocks. DeLeye had 13 kills and only committed two errors on 30 swings to hit .367 on the night. Tealer hit .526 after tallying 12 kills on 19 swings with two errors.
Typical contributors Reagan Rutherford and Eleanor Beavin also had great nights for Kentucky. Rutherford had a .333 efficiency after putting down eight kills on 18 digs. Beavin broke 1,000 career digs after picking up 14 in the match.
LSU VOLLEYBALL: LSU volleyball’s 0-2 week shows its biggest struggles ahead of Texas A&M and Georgia
To finish off Week 4 of SEC volleyball, Arkansas hosted Alabama and capped off the week with a four set win. The Hogs finished the game in 25-10, 25-13, 23-25 and 25-13 sets.
Leading the Hogs to their seventh SEC record was outside hitter Head. The senior had 18 kills on 36 attempts and only five errors, finishing the night with a .361 hitting percentage.
The 18 kills put Head at 1,311 total for her career, moving her to No. 9 in total career kills in Arkansas volleyball history. She also had eight blocks, four digs and one ace.
Middle blockers Sania Petties and Zoi Evans had great nights on both sides of the game. Evans recorded a career-high six kills and was a part of six blocks. Petties also had a hand in six blocks and put down 10 kills.
What-nows: Conference standings and weekly honors
First in the rankings is Arkansas at 7-0 in SEC play. Tennessee follows in second place with a 7-1 record, and Kentucky caps off the podium with a 6-1 record for third place.
Texas A&M is in fourth place with a 6-2 record. Tied for fifth place at 4-3 in SEC play are Auburn and Florida; the Tigers are 14-4 overall compared to the Gators’ 12-4, so Auburn takes the place above Florida.
In seventh place with a 4-4 SEC record is Missouri and Georgia is in eighth place with a 2-4 record. Tied for ninth place with 2-5 SEC records are Mississippi State and LSU; the Bulldogs are 9-8 overall and the Tigers are 7-10 overall, so Mississippi State sits above LSU in the rankings.
In 11th place is Ole Miss with a 2-6 SEC record, but just one game behind is South Carolina with a 1-6 SEC record. In last place overall is Alabama with an 0-7 SEC record.
Kentucky’s Emma Grome received SEC Player and Setter of the Week honors after an outstanding performance in the Wildcats’ sweep over Tennessee.
To receive her third-straight SEC Setter of the Week honor, the junior put up 42 assists and led Kentucky to a .356 hitting percentage in its first sweep of the season.
In her fifth-straight match with at least 40 assists, she also tallied six digs to go along with her 14 assists per set average.
Middle blocker Elise Goetzinger received SEC Co-Offensive Player of the Week honors after killing 12 balls on 19 attempts with no errors in Kentucky’s match against Tennessee.
After averaging five points per set, the senior also hit .632 in the match to set a new season high. Along with a season-high, Goetzinger also set a career-high after putting up four blocks against the Vols.
Mississippi State redshirt junior Amina Shackelford received SEC Co-Offensive Player of the Week honors after putting down a season-high 18 kills on 32 swings against then No. 14 Florida.
The right side hit .469 for the Bulldogs and added two blocks, one assist and one ace in the program’s second all-time win over Florida.
Co-Defensive Player of the Week honors were given to Missouri’s sophomore libero, Maya Sands. Sands averaged 5.25 digs per set in the Tigers’ two wins over Alabama and Ole Miss. Against the Tide, Sands collected 12 digs; against the Rebels, Sands posted a career-high 30 digs.
Texas A&M sophomore middle blocker Morgan Perkins received Co-Defensive Player of the Week honors after averaging 2.29 blocks per set in the Aggies 2-0 weekend.
She helped Texas A&M hold opponents to a hitting percentage of .115 after two amazing blocking performances against LSU and South Carolina. At LSU, she tied her season best of seven blocks, then surpassed it after posting nine blocks against the Gamecocks.
With its fourth SEC Honor of the week, Kentucky’s Brooklyn DeLeye is honored as the Co-SEC Freshman of the Week for the second week in a row. DeLeye had a team-best 13 kills against Tennessee and she hit .367 against the Vols. In addition to her offensive performance, the outside hitter also collected eight digs, one assist and one ace.
To close out SEC Honors for week four, Missouri’s Sierra Dudley was honored as Co-Freshman of the Week.
The freshman setter averaged 13.38 assists per set and 2.63 digs per set in the 2-0 week for the Tigers. Against Alabama, Dudley dished out 47 assists, picked up eight digs and blocked three of the Tide’s attempts.
She also led Missouri to a season-high hitting percentage of .354. Against Ole Miss, she recorded her seventh double-double after making a career-high 60 assists and 12 digs.
MORE SPORTS: LSU women’s basketball enters season ranked No. 1 for first time in program history
Should-sees: Upcoming matches and big games in the SEC
Week 5 of SEC volleyball kicks off with Alabama traveling to South Carolina. With both teams trying to keep themselves from dead last in the rankings, this match takes the first must-see label of the week.
The Tide is 0-7 in SEC competition and the Gamecocks are 1-6; to see who wants it more, tune in to SEC Network+ at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 18.
The next team to hit the road on Wednesday is Ole Miss. The Rebels will take on Georgia at 7 p.m. on SEC Network.
The biggest match of SEC play that can’t be missed starts at 5:30 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 20. In a top-15 matchup, the top two teams in the SEC will face off as No. 12 Tennessee hosts No. 10 Arkansas.
The two sit at the top of the SEC and, until this past week, were in a back-and-forth battle for sole possession of No. 1. The Hogs hold first place on their own with a 7-0 record in SEC play and the Lady Vols are just behind at 7-1 after suffering their first loss during week four.
The match will be full of high-level volleyball from two teams that have their eyes on winning the SEC this season. It will be available for viewing on SEC Network+.
At 6 p.m., No. 20 Kentucky hosts Mississippi State. The match will be on SEC Network+. At the same time over on SEC Network, No. 23 Auburn will host Missouri.
To cap off Friday night SEC volleyball, No. 17 Florida will travel to Texas A&M at 6:30 p.m. for a must-see rematch that will be on SEC Network+.
Just last month, Texas A&M battled it out with the Florida Gators and took them down in five thrilling sets of volleyball. Both teams have even more to fight for this time around with the conference season nearing its end and the tournament coming up. An at-large bid could be at stake in this match, and neither team will go down easily.
The last day of week five on Sunday, Oct. 22, starts with No. 20 Kentucky hosting No. 10 Arkansas. The match will be on SEC Network at noon.
LSU will travel to Alabama for a 1 p.m. matchup. The game will be on SEC Network+. On the same platform at 2 p.m., Texas A&M hosts Georgia, and No. 23 Auburn hosts South Carolina.
At 2 p.m. on SEC Network, Mississippi State will host Ole Miss to conclude Week 5ive of SEC play.
