Illinois 1, Tennessee 3 Food City Center, Knoxville, TN. September 1, 2026 22nd-ranked Tennessee remained perfect on the season, sweeping Illinois 25-19, 25-17, 25-11 in the inaugural Allstate Big Ten/SEC Volleyball Challenge, doing so in front of a new program-record crowd of 8,212, breaking the mark of 7,924 set just days earlier at the season-opening win over Colgate. Tennessee didn't dominate from the opening point, needing to grind out the first set before finding its rhythm. Head coach Eve Rackham Watt credited the team's balanced attack afterward, noting that the offense had been clean and effective without relying on any one player. Illinois hung around into the second set, but Tennessee answered with a run fueled by Kennedi Rogers and Maggie Dostic before Chelsea Sutton finished it off to close out a 25-17 win. The Lady Vols carried that momentum into a dominant 25-11 third set to complete the sweep, tallying 48 kills as a team on a blistering .422 hitting percentage while h...