UT, Vandy deliver spike in historic exhibition at Knox Catholic
In 2025, when Vanderbilt brought back its women’s volleyball program after a 45-year hiatus, new Vandy coach Anders Nelson posed a question to Tennessee coach Eve Rackham Watt: “How can we continue to grow the sport in our state?”
The answer came on Friday, March 27, as UT hosted Vanderbilt in a unique exhibition match at Knoxville Catholic High School.
It was not the first collegiate exhibition in the state to be held at a high school, as the teams faced off last season at Brentwood High School.
It was, however, a first-of-its-kind event for Knoxville and for Knox Catholic specifically.
“We agreed to do a sort of home and home, so we started in Nashville, which was appropriate with it being their first year as a program,” Rackham Watt said. “Then we just agreed to do it at local high schools to get a different environment for people to see us play.”
This was not the first unique volleyball event for Catholic, which hosted the first-ever sanctioned outdoor high school volleyball match in TSSAA history on August 21, 2025 in Blaine Stadium.
In previous years, the school hosted a prime time high school football matchup against Trinity Christian (TX) — whose offensive coordinator at the time was Deion Sanders — and a basketball matchup with IMG Academy, which featured future Tennessee point guard Jaden Springer.
So something of this magnitude was nothing new. Rather, the only newness was the free admission since NCAA rules forbade the schools from making money on the event.
“It is rare, and we’re proud of the fact that they asked us,” Knox Catholic athletic director Jason Surlas said, adding that Rackham Watt reached out to KCHS volleyball coach Brent Carter about the possibility.
Meanwhile, Nelson reached out to Mike Kinney, a Catholic baseball assistant, after last year’s match in middle Tennessee.
Kinney’s daughter Elli is a libero for the Commodores, as she took the floor to a loud ovation that Friday night. Her sister, Catholic standout Mia Kinney, is committed to Vanderbilt in the Class of 2028.
“Knowing my family was here, that Elli was returning home and that our daughter Mia will get a chance to go there, it was a great opportunity,” Kinney said. “From a family standpoint, it’s extraordinary.”
That feeling extended to the court, where players tossed shirts toward the crowd during introductions.
Once the match began, Vanderbilt jumped out to a 2-0 lead off set wins of 25-16 and 30-28.
The second set’s intensity offered a preview of what came next, as UT roared back from the deficit to win the third and fourth sets, 26-24 and 25-21.
That forced a fifth set, which seesawed back and forth until a Vanderbilt net violation gave UT a 14-13 lead with match point just ahead.
Tennessee senior Nia Hall delivered a resounding spike, cementing a 3-2 comeback exhibition win for a team that Rackham Watt called “really hungry.”
“We’ve got five girls who graduated high school early and a couple true freshmen,” she said. “I was excited for them to have to work and come from behind, to be down. I wanted Vanderbilt to push us, and they gave us everything we could handle.”
She noted a similar excitement for the event as a whole, which will take place again next year in Nashville.
“I’m just so excited about the growth of our sport in the state of Tennessee,” Rackham Watt said. “Our Knoxville community is amazing, and the sport of volleyball has continued to grow in the last couple years. You saw it here tonight with the amount of people who came out to watch a spring exhibition match. It’s tremendous, and I’m proud to be a part of it.”
