Weekend Preview: #15 Lady Vols Open 2024 Campaign with #7 Penn State, #6 Louisville - University of Tennessee Athletics (2024)

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The 2024 volleyball season is finally here, and the 15th-ranked Lady Vols begin the year with a pair of top-10 foes this weekend.

Tennessee opens the year at home Friday night against No. 7 Penn State at 6 p.m. ET. Doors open one hour before the match, and fans can purchase tickets on AllVols.com. Have tickets for Saturday's football game against Chattanooga? Show those at the door for free general admission as part of our season-long Football Friday promo for matches the day before a Tennessee football home game.

Parking is available in G10 garage and in the G5 lot beside the arena. Gate B will be the entrance for general fans, while students and player guests are encouraged to use Gate C. The clear bag policy is in effect for all matches. Additional items to know before coming out for a competition can be found on theVolleyball Gameday Page.

For those who can't make it to Food City Center, the contest will be televised on ESPNU.

The Lady Vols end the weekend with a trip north to sixth-ranked Louisville. The two teams will face off Sunday at 4 p.m. in the KFC Yum! Center. That match will be televised nationally on ESPN2.

New Look Lady Vols in 2024
The 2024 edition of Tennessee volleyball will look much different than last season's team. The Lady Vols lost five starters and several bench players, while only Caroline Kerr and Kiki Granberry return in their starting roles. Plenty of new faces have joined the program, as the Big Orange added nine players with their signing class and through the transfer portal. Some of them will see major playing time starting Day One, while others could see their roles increase as the season progresses.

Lady Vols Earn Best Preseason Rank Since 2012
Coming off one of the best seasons in program history, Tennessee volleyball opens the season ranked 15th overall, the team's best start entering a year since 2012. The Lady Vols have been ranked in the preseason poll 10 times in the program's history, with the most recent occasion coming in 2019. That year, the Big Orange ranked 19th to kick off the campaign. In 2023, Tennessee was a mainstay in the national rankings, reaching as high as eighth and ending the year at No. 9 overall.

Kerr Named to Preseason All-SEC Team
After establishing herself as one of the best setters in the country last year, Tennessee's Caroline Kerr earned a spot on the 2024 Preseason Volleyball All-SEC Team. During the 2023 campaign, Kerr received All-America Second Team recognition from AVCA and was a Fourth Team selection by VolleyballMag.com, joining Julie Knytych (2004-05) and Mary Pollmiller (2011) as the only setters in program history to earn All-America honors. The Champaign, Illinois, native ranked third nationally, second in the SEC and led all NCAA freshmen in assists per set at 11.75, recording 14 40-assist efforts and five 50-assist performances on the year.

Who's the Next Great Tennessee Outside Under Rackham Watt?
A major storyline going into this season is how the Lady Vols replace the All-American outside duo of Morgahn Fingall and Jenaisya Moore. While that will be a tall task, head coach Eve Rackham Watt and her staff have consistently found success offensively since arriving on Rocky Top, ranking inside the top 15 nationally in kills per set in three out of her first six seasons. Now, the question becomes, who will replace that duo? The top options are transfers Nina Cajic, who earned 2023 CAA Player of the Year honors at Towson, and Hayden Kubik, the former top-ranked recruit from Nebraska. Several other individuals will also factor into the rotation as well.