Tennessee volleyball opens the 2026 season Friday at 7 p.m. EDT against Colgate. The Lady Vols return from a 20-8 campaign that ended in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Eve Rackham Watt’s squad looks different from the one that closed out last year. After several transferred out, four came in.
“Our priority was really just about bringing in players who understood the expectations and the culture and wanted to be a part of a program that wanted to win a championship,โ Rackham Watt said in Mondayโs media availability. โThe standards to be a part of this program are not necessarily for everybody.”
The players she brought in to meet that standard arrive with the great resumes to back it up.
Kennedi Rogers comes in after a productive freshman year at SMU, where she appeared in 22 matches and 64 sets, piling up 175 kills at a .272 clip. Rogers had seven double-digit kill matches as a freshman, including a 21-kill, 10-dig night at NC State, and she saved some of her best work for the biggest stages.
She logged her first career double-double with 10 kills and 10 digs in a five-set win at then-No. 4 Louisville, then went for 13 kills and a career-high 6 blocks in a win at then-No. 5 Stanford.
Jalyn Stout comes over from Coastal Carolina as one of the best talents in the country. She enters the season as the NCAA’s all-time leader in career triple-doubles with 46, and finished her three years with the Chanticleers with 1,112 kills, 1,545 assists and 1,041 digs.
That balance made her the only player in Sun Belt history to top 1,000 in all three categories.
Raegan Burns adds another proven winner, arriving from Kansas, where she was a key part of NCAA Tournament runs in 2023 and 2024 before an injury cost her the 2025 season.
Rackham Watt likes what the group has shown so far.
“We’ve replaced and brought in, I think, some really proven transfers,โ she said. โAnd I think we’ll rely on a combination of those guys and also our freshmen.”
For all the new faces, the foundation of this team is still the group that has been here. Seniors Caroline Kerr, Mackenzie Plante and Sydney Jaynes are the last players left from the 2023 squad that made a run to the Sweet 16, and Rackham Watt is leaning on them to set the tone for everyone coming in.
Kerr, a three-time AVCA All-American, enters the year after being named preseason All-SEC. Between the three of them, they give Tennessee exactly what a reshuffled roster needs: players who have been through it and know what winning here is supposed to look like. That group is a big reason Rackham Watt feels good about where this team is.
The returning group also includes sophomore Maggie Dostic, who carved out a role as a freshman and figures to have a bigger one this year. She did most of her work in the back row last season, but Rackham Watt said the goal this offseason was to get her more front-row opportunities.
“I would take 15 more Maggies,” Rackham Watt said. “She’s just a great person, a great teammate. She would play any role that was asked of her. Last year she played not only out of position, but she played in a spot she’s never played, and never complained, never, just said, ‘Hey, whatever I can do to help the team.'”
Chelsea Sutton is another key piece coming back after a productive season. She led the team with 116 blocks and finished second in kills with 215, and she was also Tennessee’s most efficient hitter, a mark that ranked among the top five in the SEC.
Between the returners and the experience the transfers bring, Rackham Watt has a group with both familiarity and firepower heading into the opener.
Tennessee starts with a loaded opening weekend in Knoxville. Rackham Watt did not downplay the demand or importance of the start. The Lady Vols play three matches in about 24 hours, then turn around for a fourth on Tuesday. Four matches in five days, right out of the gate.
“It’s a tough stretch,โ Rackham Watt said. โThere’s not a true rhythm or cadence to it, so this team’s gonna have to get used to kinda turning around and playing on short recovery. But it’s also really good practice for the SEC season and postseason. You don’t get three or four days in between matches. You’ve gotta be able to turn around and either do it the next night or maybe a day in between.”
For a team with this many new pieces, that opening stretch is the first real look at whether the group has come together the way Rackham Watt believes it has. The answer starts Friday night. Check back with us here at The Rotation Knox for game coverage and postgame recap.
