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Lady Vols hoping to stop Filley, Tigers Jessica Landefeld Contributor

After taking a tough 0-3 loss to the No.1-ranked Florida Gators on Sunday, the Tennessee women’s volleyball team is preparing to take on the Auburn Tigers this Thursday in Alabama. Due to the tightness of the Lady Vols’ dropped sets (23-25, 19-25, 20-25) in their last loss, Tennessee is preparing even more strenuously for the Tigers. After losing to Auburn 3-2 (22-25, 25-19, 18-25, 27-25, 11-15) earlier in the season, the Lady Vols are ready to redeem themselves. Head coach Rob Patrick believes that his team will be able to take the lessons they learned in the Florida match and apply them against the Tigers. “We did some really good things against Florida,” Patrick said. “I think if we can carry that over it will put us in a really good situation against Auburn.” Auburn has presented a challenge for the Lady Vols as well as many other SEC teams they have played throughout the season, such as Alabama, South Carolina and Georgia. One huge factor that has consistently benefitted the Tigers throughout the season is their starting setter, Alexa Filley. Filley is a senior from Louisville, Kentucky, and she has dominated in her position at Auburn. Filley has collected various awards during her time as a Tiger, such as being named to the 2014 War Eagle Invitational All-Tournament Team (MVP) and 2016 Auburn Invitational All-Tournament Team and garnering 2016

All-SEC and 2016 AVCA All-South Region Honorable Mention honors. In respect of the challenge Filley brings to the court, the Lady Vols have attempted to prepare for her. “She is what we call an offensive hitter, where she not only sets her hitters really well but attacks the ball,” Patrick said. “We have to be able to defend both of those things. “She is their emotional leader. If we can get them out of (their) system, where she is not setting them and we make her play the first ball, I think they become a little bit less of an offensive threat.” Tennessee is bringing some standout players of its own to Auburn, though. One such player is Sedona Hansen, a sophomore from Wrightwood, California, who is looking for her tenth double-double of the season and hopes to help her team pull out a win against the Tigers. “We’ve already played Auburn one time, and it was a hard-fought match as well, so we feel like we really know what we’re up against this time,” Hansen said. Both the coaches and the players know the importance of defense during the Auburn game, especially when facing players like Filley. Hansen believes the team is well prepared to handle the Tiger offense. “We’ve been doing a lot more defensive, like blocking-wise, and tougher serves,” Hansen said. “We just take it one win at a time, so whoever our next opponent is, that’s just the main focus. By the end of the season, we want to come up with a couple more wins for our group.” The match will be broadcast on SEC Network+ at 8 p.m.

Photo: Keyton Kinley, #0, during the game against Florida at ThompsonBoling Arena on Nov. 5, 2017. Adrien Terricabras / The Daily Beacon

Volume 134 Issue 22

utdailybeacon.com @utkdailybeacon

Thursday, November 9, 2017


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