Tennessee volleyball will play Utah State as No. 7 seed in NCAA tournament

Tennessee volleyball was selected as a No. 7 seed on Nov. 30 for the NCAA tournament.

The Lady Vols (20-7) will travel to Tempe, Arizona, to play the opening rounds hosted by No. 2 seed Arizona State. Tennessee will play Utah State (23-7) in the first round on Dec. 4 (6:30 p.m. ET, ESPN+). If UT advances, it will face the winner of Arizona State and Coppin State on Dec. 5.

Utah State won both the Mountain West regular-season championship after going 18-0 in conference play, and it completed the sweep of the conference titles with two wins in the Mountain West tournament. They enter the NCAA tournament on a 21-0 winning streak.

The Lady Vols finished fourth in the SEC at 10-5, and they advanced to the SEC tournament semifinals before falling to Kentucky in four sets.

Tennessee is making its fifth straight appearance and 20th overall in the NCAA tournament. It is the sixth time overall the Lady Vols have earned an NCAA tournament berth under coach Eve Rackham Watt, who has led them past the first round three times.

The Lady Vols' furthest run under Rackham Watt was to the Round of 16 in 2023.

Tennessee recorded 20 wins this season for the fourth time in Rackham Watt's tenure. The Lady Vols earned their way into the rankings after started the season unranked, and they ended the regular season ranked No. 18 in the country.

Cora Hall is the University of Tennessee women’s athletics reporter for Knox News. Email: [email protected]; X: @corahalll; Bluesky: @corahall.bsky.social‬. Support strong local journalism and unlock premium perks:knoxnews.com/subscribe

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Tennessee volleyball will play Utah State as No. 7 seed in NCAA tournament