Every coach in the SEC prepared for a tough road of volleyball competition, reminding their teams that no win comes easy once it’s conference time.

The first week of SEC volleyball had its ups and downs, consisting of multiple clean sweeps and a handful of five-set matches. The Reveille is giving you the weekly rundown, including the must-knows, the what-nows and the should-sees of SEC competition:

Must-knows: The wins and losses of Week 1

On Wednesday, Sept. 20, two matches were played to start SEC volleyball play. Missouri traveled to Knoxville to face then No. 14 Tennessee, and the Volunteers took care of business with a 26-24, 25-19, 25-11 sweep. This was the 100th career win for Tennessee’s head coach Eve Rackham Watt.

Mississippi State went to College Station to battle it out with Texas A&M, but eventually fell short, allowing the Aggies to walk away with a 25-20, 25-22, 25-18 sweep.

SEC competition continued on Friday, Sept. 22. Then No. 16 Arkansas held South Carolina to a hitting percentage of .018 in its dominant 25-11, 25-15, 25-18 performance. The .018 hitting percentage is the lowest the Hogs’ have held a team to all season.

Then, LSU started to shake things up a little after taking the first set 25-23 over then No. 22 Kentucky. Despite grabbing a set, the Tigers ended up losing the next three sets 25-22, 25-18 and 25-13. Freshman outside hitter Brooklyn DeLeye led the Wildcats to their first win since Sept. 8, setting three career highs with 19 kills, a .444 hitting percentage and seven digs.

MORE SEC VOLLEYBALL: A team-by-team breakdown of LSU volleyball’s conference competition

Alabama traveled to Oxford to face first-year head coach Bre Henry and her Ole Miss team. Henry was the assistant coach prior to being named the head coach, so she knows a thing or two about running the Rebel squad. Ole Miss easily took Alabama down in a 25-20, 25-17, 25-18 sweep.

For the Friday night finale, then No. 24 Auburn hosted then No. 3 Florida. For those who haven’t heard, the Gators lost their All-American, reigning SEC Freshman of the Year, star player and starting setter Alexis Stucky in the last nonconference game against Wisconsin. Stucky has recently shared that she’s out for the season with an ACL and MCL tear.

Stepping in behind Stucky is Kennedy Muff, a fifth-year transfer from a Division II program, Flagler College. Muff and Florida dropped the first set against Auburn 25-20 before a close battle in set two and set three.

Florida took the second set over Auburn 26-24 after a couple of huge challenge calls that ended in favor of the Gators. Mary Wise rallied her team to go on an 11-3 run to close out the second set. Then, Madison Scheer led Auburn to a 26-24 third-set win after a seven-kill performance.
The fourth set was a must-win situation for Florida, and the Gators were able to pull off a 25-19 win to force a fifth set. In a decisive fifth set, Florida and Auburn went into extra points before Florida took the close 17-15 win to take the match 3-2.

To end the first week of SEC volleyball, 12 of the 13 programs in the conference went head-to-head on Sunday, Sept. 24 to finalize the week one standings. LSU is the only team that didn’t play on Sunday.

The first match on Sunday was then No. 22 Kentucky hosting then No. 14 Tennessee. The Volunteers swept the Wildcats, marking the first win over a ranked Kentucky team since 2016. Morgahn Fingall led the way in 25-23, 25-18 and 25-18 set wins with 17 kills and a hitting percentage of .361. She also added 10 digs, four blocks and an ace.

Ole Miss traveled to then No. 24 Auburn and was able to take a 25-21 first-set win off the Tigers, but the next three sets went to Akasha Anderson and Auburn. Anderson finished the night with 20 kills and nine digs. A handful of other Tigers contributed with season-highs of their own to win the sets 25-21, 25-10 and 27-25.

Jill Gillen and Taylor Head led the offense from the outside pin for then No. 16 Arkansas as the Hogs defeated Texas A&M in four sets, 25-23, 21-25, 25-18, 25-16. Arkansas hit .346 after Gillen contributed 19 kills and 11 digs and Head tallied 15 kills and 13 digs.

Missouri hosted South Carolina and was led by Jordan Iliff after she hit .444 to generate a career-high 21 kills and 15 digs. The Mizzou Tigers defeated the Gamecocks three sets to one, 25-15, 25-18, 23-25, 25-22.

Mississippi State hosted Alabama for a clean sweep, 25-16, 25-20, 25-21. The Bulldogs held the Tide to a .145 clip with only 32 kills while they hit .243 and floored 40 kills.

For the last game of week one SEC volleyball, then No. 3 Florida hosted Georgia, the team who took down a top-10 opponent just a couple weeks ago. Reigning SEC Coach of the Year Tom Black brought his Bulldog squad into Gainesville and led his team to a thrilling five-setter against Mary Wise and her Florida Gators.

Florida took the first set 25-22 before Georgia turned the match around and stole sets two and three on 25-22 wins of its own. The fourth set consisted of 15 ties and seven lead changes, but eventually Wise led her team to a 25-23 win to force a fifth set.

Since Florida was just in a five-set battle with Auburn, the team knew how to handle the pressure. A couple of runs in the fifth set gave way for the Gators to finish the set 15-11 and the match 3-2.

MORE VOLLEYBALL: Photos of LSU volleyball defeating UCLA 3-2

What-nows: Conference standings and weekly honors
Most of the standings consist of multiple ties since it’s only been one week of play. At the top in first place is a three-way tie between Tennesse, Florida and Arkansas. The teams all went 2-0 on the weekend; Tennessee holds first place higher with an overall record of 11-1, then Florida follows with a 10-1 record. Arkansas is 12-2.
With six teams tied for second place at 1-1, Auburn sits at the top with an overall record of 11-2. Texas A&M follows with a 9-3 record, then Missouri at 9-4. Mississippi State is close behind Missouri with an 8-4 record. Ole Miss sits with a 7-6 record, then Kentucky finishes out second place with a 3-7 record.
Tied for third place is Georgia and LSU. It should be noted that Georgia and LSU are the only teams in the SEC that have only played one game this far into conference season, and they’re both 0-1. Georgia tops LSU with a 9-4 overall record against the Tiger’s 5-6 record.
Ending the rankings with a two-way tie for last and fourth place is Alabama and South Carolina. The two teams are 0-2 after one week. Alabama holds a spot above South Carolina with an overall record of 10-3 against the 6-5 Gamecocks.
Tennessee graduate student and right-side hitter Morgahn Fingall was honored as the SEC Player and Offensive Player of the Week. Fingall averaged 5.92 points and 4.50 kills per set on a .351 clip. She hit .333 and .361 in Tennessee’s wins against Missouri and Kentucky to complete the two sweeps in the first week of conference play.
Senior middle blocker Nnedi Okammor of Florida was honored as Co-Defensive Player of the Week. The senior posted a career-high 10 blocks in Florida’s win over Georgia and another seven blocks against Auburn.
Emily Beeker, a red-shirt sophomore middle blocker at Tennessee, averaged 1.83 blocks per set in the first week of conference play. Beeker had five blocks in the Vols win against Missouri and a career-high six blocks in the win against Kentucky.
Arkansas junior setter Hannah Hogue received the SEC Setter of the Week honor after averaging 11.29 assists per set to lead the Hogs to a 2-0 weekend. The Razorbacks hit .346 after Hogue dished out 44 assists against Texas A&M. She also had 35 assists in the 3-0 win over South Carolina.
To finish off the weekly honors, another Tennessee player takes an award. Redshirt-freshman setter Caroline Kerr received SEC Freshman of the Week honors after an 11 assists per set performance on the weekend. Kerr contributed to the Vols 2-0 weekend in multiple ways, tallying numbers in every stat line.

READ MORE: ‘It was a huge disappointment’: Loss to Southeastern forces LSU volleyball to address fundamentals

Should-sees: Upcoming matches and big games in the SEC
The second week of SEC play will kick off on Wednesday, Sept. 27 at 6 p.m. as Texas A&M travels to No. 4 Florida. The match will be available on ESPN; it was previously scheduled to air on ESPNU, but it was announced Tuesday morning that the game was upgraded to ESPN. Sam Gore and Missy Whittemore will call the game.
At 7 p.m., No. 24 Auburn will take on No. 14 Arkansas on the Hogs’ home court. The match is available for viewing on SEC Network and is one of the top matchups of week two. Auburn just took a top-three opponent to five sets and barely lost; Arkansas is on a hot winning streak with no plans on stopping. The match will be full of competitive volleyball, and it’ll be one you shouldn’t miss.
Then, on Friday, Sept. 29, No. 12 Tennessee travels to Mississippi State. The match will be available on SEC Network+ at 5 p.m.
No. 23 Kentucky travels to face Georgia at 6 p.m. and is the second can’t miss game of the weekend. Black’s Bulldog team is hungry for another ranked win, and after being so close in a five-set match with top-ranked Florida, the team is definitely coming with some extra heat.
Kentucky has faced tough opponents all season and has a 3-7 record to show it, but the Wildcats have managed to stay in the top-25 because of the toughness of their schedule. If Georgia pulls off the win, it could take Kentucky out of the rankings and open a potential spot for the Bulldogs. The match will be available on SEC Network and should be a thrilling game full of fight.
South Carolina will also kickoff its second weekend of SEC play at 6 p.m. to face Ole Miss on the Rebel’s home court. LSU will host Missouri and will have first serve at 7:30 p.m. Both matches will be available for streaming on SEC Network+.
The opening match on Sunday, Oct. 1, will cap off the list of must-see matches this weekend. Georgia will travel to face a young and fiery No. 24 Auburn team; the match will be available on ESPN at noon.
The possibilities for Georgia’s weekend are endless and could end either horribly wrong or perfectly right. In any ending scenario, if the Bulldogs take home at least one win this weekend, they could be in contention for a national ranking.
Auburn is a team that has risen from the ground under in the last couple of seasons and is making a name for itself to make the tournament regularly. A win over a solid Georgia team would be a great resume booster once tournament bids are being decided on.
Following at 1 p.m., No .4 Florida will go north to face South Carolina. The match will be on SECN. At the same time, No. 23 Kentucky faces Alabama on the Tide’s home court. The match will be on SEC Network+.

At 1:30 p.m., No. 12 Tennessee takes on Ole Miss in Oxford. The match will be on SEC Network+. Texas A&M will host Missouri at 3 p.m. The match will be on SEC Network.

To finish week two of SEC play, Mississippi State will play on LSU’s home court at 5 p.m. The match will be on SEC Network.