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Lady Vols Ranked in Preseason AP Top 25

In Kellie Harper's third year, the Lady Vols find themselves at no. 15 in the first AP Preseason Poll for the 2021-2022 season
Jack Foster|
Lady Vols Ranked in Preseason AP Top 25
Lady Vols Ranked in Preseason AP Top 25

Tennessee women's basketball has been a dominant force on Rocky Top for quite some time, and in head coach Kellie Harper's third year, expectations and excitations are being ignited in Tennessee fans. 

And with tip-off of the Lady Vols' first game against Southern Illinois three weeks away from Wednesday, Kellie Harper's squad has their official preseason ranking of 15th.

The Lady Vols' Twitter page released the following tweet Tuesday afternoon:

Just barely in the back half of the rankings, the Lady Vols join three other SEC teams in the top 25, as South Carolina comes in at no. 1 on the list with Kentucky two spots ahead of the Lady Vols at 13 and Texas A&M ten spots behind that at no. 23. 

The Lady Vols will play eight ranked teams in the 2021-2022 schedule, including all top three squads in South Carolina, UConn and Stanford, along with four other teams that received AP votes. 

In Harper's three years at the helm, this is the first year Tennessee has officially made the preseason poll, and it marks the first year since the 2018-2019 season when the Lady Vols came in at no. 11. 

As far as the preseason media rankings go, the Lady Vols are projected to be slightly better in terms of how they will fare in their conference, as Tennessee lands at no. 2 in the SEC. (See tweet below):

The Lady Vols 2020-2021 season finished on a sour note with a tough loss to Michigan in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, but Tennessee was able to finish out the season ranked 13th, the first end of season ranking for the Lady Vols since the 2017-2018 season. 

The Lady Vols will host Southern Illinois on November 10 in Thompson Bowling Arena, a day after Rick Barnes' Tennessee BasektVols host UT Martin in TBA at 7 p.m. ET. The start time for the Lady Vols first game is to be determined.  

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Jack Foster
JACK FOSTER

Jack is a sophomore at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville majoring in Journalism/Electronic Media. Jack grew up in Paris, Tennessee, but now spends the majority of his time in Knoxville doubling as a student and sports journalist for Volunteer Country. Jack has been a sports junkie since he was a young kid and always watched NFL football with his dad on Sundays. Jack still follows the NFL religiously, as he is an avid fantasy football player. Jack started with Volunteer Country in May of 2021 and has since helped provide full coverage of football, baseball and men's and women's basketball. Jack also works as a recurring member of WUTK's Rock Solid Sports show on Wednesdays and Fridays, and he also serves as head sports producer of The Volunteer Channel's Vol News, a student-run show at the University. When Jack is not watching or covering sports, find him on the golf course or back home spending time with his parents, younger sister and friends. Follow Jack on Twitter and Instagram by clicking "Twitter" and "Instagram" to see all of his work with Volunteer Country as well as student media.