We are officially past the point where anybody can hide behind the nonconference schedule.
SEC play is here, everybody has a few results on the board, and we’re beginning to figure out which teams are actually built to survive this league once the schedule starts throwing ranked opponents at them every few days. Kentucky remains unbeaten in SEC play, Florida has won nine straight, Texas finally got back home and looked like Texas again, Texas A&M has quietly put together a five-match winning streak, and Tennessee suddenly finds itself needing to stop a couple of frustrating losses from becoming something larger.
And we don’t have to wait long for the biggest match of the week.
Tonight gives us No. 3 Kentucky at No. 7 Florida on ESPN.
Yeah.
That’ll do.
SUNDAY — OCTOBER 4
Alabama at No. 8 Texas
12:00 PM CT — SEC Network+
Texas finally returned to Gregory Gym Friday night and apparently decided it had spent enough time making life difficult for itself.
The Longhorns swept Mississippi State 25-16, 25-21 and 25-19 while hitting a season-best .438, with Torrey Stafford putting down 20 kills. Texas is only 6-5 overall, which still looks strange beside that No. 8 ranking, but the record continues to need context because the Longhorns have spent most of September playing a schedule designed by somebody who apparently hates free time. They’re now 2-1 in SEC play and unbeaten at home.
Alabama, meanwhile, is coming directly from College Station after getting swept by No. 14 Texas A&M on Friday. That means the Tide’s reward for facing the defending national champions is a trip to Austin roughly 48 hours later.
SEC volleyball is considerate like that.
Why watch: Texas looked awfully comfortable once it finally got home. Alabama gets an immediate chance to see whether that was just one good night or whether the Longhorns are beginning to settle in.
Mississippi State at No. 14 Texas A&M
12:00 PM CT — SEC Network+
Mississippi State carried an 11-1 record and an eight-match winning streak into Austin on Friday, then ran straight into a Texas team that swept the Bulldogs in three. It was only State’s second loss of the season, so there is certainly no reason to panic, but this is not exactly the opponent you would choose when trying to immediately get back on track.
Texas A&M swept Alabama Friday for its fifth consecutive victory, with Megan Fitch producing a career-high 14 kills in front of nearly 6,000 people at Reed Arena. The Aggies are up to No. 14 and are beginning to look increasingly comfortable after an uneven start to the season.
So Mississippi State goes from No. 8 Texas on Friday to No. 14 Texas A&M on Sunday.
That’s the SEC. And the inverse of Alabama. Rough go for State and the Tide.
Why watch: This is an excellent bounce-back test for Mississippi State and another opportunity for A&M to keep quietly climbing.
Arkansas at South Carolina
12:00 PM CT — SEC Network+
Neither team enters Sunday feeling particularly wonderful about Friday night.
Arkansas lost in four sets at Georgia, while South Carolina dropped a four-set home match to Oklahoma. That makes this one fairly simple: somebody gets to stop the bleeding, and somebody else leaves Sunday with another conference loss hanging around its neck.
These are the matches that don’t get the ESPN treatment but start becoming very important once you look at the standings in late October. You cannot spend the entire conference schedule waiting for a dramatic upset over a ranked team to save you. Sometimes you just need to beat the team standing across the net.
Why watch: Somebody gets a badly needed SEC win.
Missouri at LSU
12:00 PM CT — SEC Network
Missouri has had a rough couple of weeks. The Tigers went to Nebraska and faced the No. 1 team in the country, then opened SEC play against Vanderbilt before dropping Friday’s match at Ole Miss in four sets. Now they head to Baton Rouge for the noon match getting the full SEC Network treatment.
LSU has already shown this season that it is perfectly willing to make matches uncomfortable, and Baton Rouge is not a particularly inviting place for Missouri to try to get things straightened out.
This probably isn’t the match most people circle when looking at Sunday’s schedule, but it feels important for both teams because early conference losses have a nasty habit of piling up before anybody realizes what happened.
Why watch: Missouri needs something positive, and LSU gets a national television home opportunity to make sure they don’t find it.
Oklahoma at Georgia
1:00 PM CT — SEC Network+
Both of these teams won Friday night, which immediately makes this one a little more interesting.
Oklahoma went into Columbia and beat South Carolina in four sets, while Georgia handled Arkansas in four. Neither carries a ranking beside its name, but somebody is going to leave Sunday having stacked two SEC victories in the span of three days.
That doesn’t make you a title contender in early October, but it does make the standings look considerably nicer on Monday morning.
Why watch: Two teams coming off good Friday nights, and one gets to turn that into a legitimately productive weekend.
Vanderbilt at Ole Miss
2:00 PM CT — SEC Network+
Ole Miss took care of Missouri in four sets Friday night and now gets another home match before the weekend is finished. Vanderbilt comes to Oxford after already being handed a fairly unpleasant early SEC schedule that included No. 3 Kentucky.
This is another one of those matches where I am less interested in rankings and more interested in figuring out where both teams actually belong in the SEC middle. Ole Miss has an opportunity to come out of the weekend with two conference wins at home, while Vanderbilt badly needs to start turning competitive stretches into actual results.
Why watch: Ole Miss can quietly put together a very nice weekend here.
No. 11 Tennessee at Auburn
2:00 PM CT — SEC Network+
Tennessee needs a win.
There isn’t really any reason to dress that up.
The Lady Vols began conference play by going up two sets on Texas before losing in five, then went to Gainesville on Friday and got swept by No. 7 Florida. Tennessee is now 0-2 in SEC play after entering conference season 9-1, and while losing to Texas and Florida is hardly a reason to declare the season over, you also don’t want an 0-2 start becoming 0-3. Florida held Tennessee to just .053 hitting in the second set Friday and closed out the sweep 25-22, 25-18, 25-23.
Auburn also comes in after a loss, falling in four sets to No. 3 Kentucky. The Tigers did manage to take the third set from the Wildcats, but Kentucky closed the door pretty firmly in the fourth.
This isn’t a ranked-versus-ranked showcase, but Tennessee has reached the point where this feels like one of the more important matches of its young SEC season.
Why watch: Tennessee has been too good to panic, but 0-3 would make the conversation considerably less comfortable.
No. 3 Kentucky at No. 7 Florida
7:30 PM CT — ESPN
Now we’re talking.
If you’re watching one volleyball match this week, make it this one.
Kentucky comes into Gainesville at 3-0 in SEC play after beating Vanderbilt, sweeping No. 7 Texas, and then going on the road Friday and knocking off Auburn in four sets. Brooklyn DeLeye had a season-high 22 kills and 11 digs against the Tigers, while Georgia Watson and Asia Thigpen each added 14 kills with Morgan Gaerte missing her second straight match because of an eye injury. Even without one of its major offensive pieces, Kentucky still hit .290 and controlled most of the night.
Florida might somehow be even hotter.
The Gators are 11-1, have won nine consecutive matches, and just swept No. 11 Tennessee on Friday night. Logan King delivered a season-high 15 kills, three aces and five blocks, while Florida’s defense frustrated Tennessee throughout the match. The 11-1 start is Florida’s best since 2017.
And now Kentucky walks into the O’Dome.
This matchup already looked good when the schedule came out, but the timing has made it even better. Kentucky is No. 3 and still unbeaten in the SEC. Florida has won nine straight and just sent another ranked opponent home without winning a set. Both teams are playing well, both have national aspirations, and this gets the Sunday-night ESPN window all to itself.
There is also something particularly useful about this game because we’re going to learn something regardless of who wins. If Kentucky goes into Gainesville and beats a Florida team playing this well, the Wildcats reinforce the idea that they remain the standard in this conference. If Florida knocks off Kentucky two days after sweeping Tennessee, then suddenly that nine-match winning streak becomes something considerably more serious.
This is exactly what Game of the Week is supposed to be.
Why watch: No. 3 against No. 7, two SEC contenders, ESPN on Sunday night, and one of the hottest teams in America hosting the team that has won nine straight SEC regular-season championships.
Put it on the big television.
WEDNESDAY — OCTOBER 7
No. 14 Texas A&M at Oklahoma
6:00 PM CT — SEC Network
Just one match Wednesday, and it’s a pretty good one to have by itself.
Texas A&M enters the weekend on a five-match winning streak after sweeping Alabama, although the Aggies first have to deal with Mississippi State on Sunday. Oklahoma gets Georgia Sunday after beating South Carolina Friday, so both teams have another SEC match before they even begin worrying about Wednesday.
Still, the setup is appealing. The defending national champions head to Norman for a standalone SEC Network match, and Oklahoma gets an opportunity to measure itself against a ranked team without anything else in the conference competing for attention.
A&M entered the latest poll at No. 14 after climbing two places, and the Aggies look like a team beginning to find some rhythm after playing a difficult early schedule.
Why watch: Wednesday night, one SEC match, defending national champions on the road. Easy decision.
FRIDAY — OCTOBER 9
Friday gives us seven matches and, unlike Sunday, there isn’t one obvious monster sitting miles above everything else. Instead, we’ve got several games that could become considerably more interesting depending on what happens earlier in the week.
Georgia at Mississippi State
5:00 PM CT — SEC Network+
Mississippi State will have already gone through Texas and Texas A&M by the time it gets home for this one, which means we’ll know much more about the Bulldogs than we did entering the week.
Georgia has a chance to build some momentum Sunday against Oklahoma before heading to Starkville. Neither team has the ranking beside its name, but this feels like one of those matches that could matter considerably when SEC Tournament positioning starts entering the conversation.
Why watch: Mississippi State finally gets back home after a brutal Texas road swing.
Ole Miss at No. 11 Tennessee
5:30 PM CT — SEC Network+
This one could look very different depending on what Tennessee does at Auburn.
If the Lady Vols get back on track Sunday, they return home Friday with a chance to start repairing that rough opening to conference play. If Tennessee loses again and enters Friday 0-3 in the SEC, suddenly this becomes a match carrying considerably more pressure than anyone expected two weeks ago.
Ole Miss, meanwhile, has Missouri and Vanderbilt at home before making the trip to Knoxville. There is a very plausible scenario where the Rebels arrive Friday feeling pretty good about themselves.
Tennessee is still No. 11 for now, but rankings only buy you so much patience once conference losses start stacking up.
Why watch: Tennessee’s entire week could change the feel of this matchup.
LSU at No. 3 Kentucky
6:00 PM CT — SEC Network+
This might quietly become Friday’s best game.
Everything depends on what happens Sunday night in Gainesville. Kentucky could return home having just beaten another Top-10 opponent and looking every bit like one of the country’s elite teams, or the Wildcats could be coming off their first SEC loss and looking to take it out on somebody.
Either version sounds unpleasant for LSU.
Kentucky’s offense has continued rolling despite Morgan Gaerte missing time, with Brooklyn DeLeye carrying a major load Friday at Auburn. The Wildcats are already 3-0 in SEC play and have beaten Texas in straight sets along the way.
Why watch: We get to see how Kentucky responds to whatever happens in Gainesville.
South Carolina at Alabama
6:00 PM CT — SEC Network+
Somebody needs this.
South Carolina lost at home to Oklahoma on Friday, while Alabama was swept at Texas A&M. Both have difficult Sunday assignments before meeting one another Friday night, so there is a real possibility that this game becomes an early-season attempt to stop things from sliding further.
Sometimes that produces ugly volleyball.
Sometimes it produces great volleyball.
Either way, somebody leaves happier.
Why watch: Two teams that could badly use a conference win.
Auburn at Vanderbilt
7:00 PM CT — SEC Network+
Auburn gets Tennessee Sunday before traveling to Nashville, while Vanderbilt has Ole Miss.
Again, this isn’t one where I’m going to pretend we’re looking at a national championship preview, but these are exactly the matches that give the conference standings shape. Every team can’t live in the Top 10, and somebody has to become the annoying SEC opponent nobody particularly wants to see on a Friday night.
This feels like a chance for one of these teams to start becoming that.
Why watch: A very winnable match for both, which usually means neither gets to relax.
No. 8 Texas at Arkansas
7:00 PM CT — SEC Network+
Texas gets Alabama at home Sunday before heading to Fayetteville, and suddenly the Longhorns are beginning to enter the portion of the schedule where they aren’t playing a Top-10 team every time they turn around.
That might be terrifying for everybody else.
Texas hit .438 against Mississippi State Friday, the best mark the Longhorns have posted all season, and Torrey Stafford finished with 20 kills in the sweep. After spending September being punched in the face by one elite opponent after another, Texas might finally be getting enough breathing room to turn all of those difficult matches into something useful.
Arkansas gets South Carolina Sunday and then returns home for this one.
Why watch: Texas’ overall record is still ugly. I’m increasingly convinced that doesn’t mean very much.
No. 7 Florida at Missouri
7:00 PM CT — ESPNU
Florida could have a very interesting emotional turnaround here.
The Gators face Kentucky in the biggest SEC match of the week Sunday night, then five days later have to go on the road and play Missouri. That is the exact sort of spot where good teams occasionally get themselves in trouble, especially if they spend too much of the week either celebrating a huge victory or stewing over a frustrating loss.
Florida has won nine straight entering Sunday and has already swept Oklahoma and Tennessee in conference play. The Gators are playing exceptionally well right now, but conference road matches have a way of reminding everybody that nothing stays easy for long.
Missouri would love nothing more than to be the team that catches Florida looking backward at Kentucky.
Why watch: Classic potential trap-game territory, and ESPNU gives it the national spotlight.
Kentucky-Florida is the measuring-stick match. We’ve already seen Kentucky sweep Texas and Florida sweep Tennessee. Now the Wildcats and Gators get each other, and whichever team comes out of Gainesville with the win is going to have one hell of an early SEC résumé.
Tennessee needs to stabilize things. An 0-2 SEC start against Texas and Florida isn’t disastrous when you consider the opponents, but Auburn on Sunday becomes important because the Lady Vols don’t want to come home against Ole Miss still searching for their first conference victory.
Texas A&M is getting interesting again. Five straight wins have pushed the Aggies up to No. 14, and this week gives them Mississippi State at home before a Wednesday trip to Oklahoma. The defending champions had a rocky enough start that they slipped a little under the radar, but that probably isn’t going to last if the winning streak keeps growing.
And I want to see more of this version of Texas. The 6-5 record still looks bizarre, but Friday’s .438 hitting percentage against an 11-1 Mississippi State team was a reminder that the Longhorns’ September schedule may have disguised how dangerous they actually are.
THIS WEEK’S WATCH LIST
Sunday, October 4
Alabama at No. 8 Texas — 12 PM CT — SEC Network+
Mississippi State at No. 14 Texas A&M — 12 PM CT — SEC Network+
Arkansas at South Carolina — 12 PM CT — SEC Network+
Missouri at LSU — 12 PM CT — SEC Network
Oklahoma at Georgia — 1 PM CT — SEC Network+
Vanderbilt at Ole Miss — 2 PM CT — SEC Network+
No. 11 Tennessee at Auburn — 2 PM CT — SEC Network+
No. 3 Kentucky at No. 7 Florida — 7:30 PM CT — ESPN
Wednesday, October 7
No. 14 Texas A&M at Oklahoma — 6 PM CT — SEC Network
Friday, October 9
Georgia at Mississippi State — 5 PM CT — SEC Network+
Ole Miss at No. 11 Tennessee — 5:30 PM CT — SEC Network+
LSU at No. 3 Kentucky — 6 PM CT — SEC Network+
South Carolina at Alabama — 6 PM CT — SEC Network+
Auburn at Vanderbilt — 7 PM CT — SEC Network+
No. 8 Texas at Arkansas — 7 PM CT — SEC Network+
No. 7 Florida at Missouri — 7 PM CT — ESPNU
Sixteen matches.
Five ranked SEC teams scattered across the schedule.
Texas A&M gets the standalone Wednesday spotlight, Friday gives us seven conference matches to choose from, and Sunday night puts No. 3 Kentucky and No. 7 Florida on ESPN with the O’Dome rocking.
That’s a pretty damn good volleyball week.
But everything starts with Gainesville.
Theia’s Game of the Week: No. 3 Kentucky at No. 7 Florida.
See you on the court.
