Before we get to the Action from Around the Hill, a Big Orange welcome to Bobby Maze who signed to play B-Ball for us last week. His services are greatly welcomed as we need all the good guard play we can get. Pull on that Orange and go to work!

Well, there's a good bit of news from Around the Hill today, most of it from the Ladies' end.

But let's start with the men, which is a good news/bad news situation. First the good news:

The #8 Men's Tennis Team (23-3) had an excellent weekend at their NCAA Regional not dropping a set during their dismantling of Furman (16-11) 4-0 and Va. Tech (16-9) 4-0. UT started both matches off by winning the doubles point, continuing UT's undefeated mark (21-0) when winning the point. Now that the boys have cruised through their Regional, it's off to Tulsa, OK to join the other 15 teams slated to play for the National Championship. The Vols will start off playing 9th seeded Baylor at 1 pm this Friday the 16th. Tennis-ee is on a roll and should fare well in Tulsa. Let's wish them the best and hope they pull it out. GO VOLS!!!

On a more somber note:

Some, if not all, of you probably heard about the woodshed whoopin' we got from Kentucky on Sunday. The 20-5 debacle ended the home series in which UT failed to win a game, falling to 25-27 (11-16 SEC) and prolonging an almost epic slide from the once promising BaseVols, who at one point in the season were only 3 games out of first in the SEC and are now in last place in the East. The boys will face Furman in Greenville, SC Tuesday and then go to Columbia to play S. Carolina this weekend. UT's home record stands at 19-13 for the season. I'm not sure what kind of chances the team has now for the CWS but judging by their play lately, it's not good. Sorry boys, maybe next year.

Again, on the Ladies' side the news is good/bad so we'll start with the good:

A small number of the #19 Lady Vol Track and Field Team went down to Georgia to compete in the GA Invitational and had a very good day Friday. The Ladies entered in 6 events and won 4 of them. The wins came in the shotput, pole vault, the 1,500 meters, and we placed 1 and 2 in the discus. A fine day for the Ladies, congratulations!

Now for the rest:

The Lady Vol Golf Team ended it's season this Saturday in the 3rd round of the NCAA East Regional when they failed to shoot their way into the top 8, finishing 16th. This is the first time in five years that the Ladies won't be playing for the National Championship. Sorry Ladies. Florida won the team title finishing one stroke ahead of 3 time and defending national champion Duke. I don't need to tell y'all how unhappy that makes me. AArrgghh!

The #25 Lady Vol Tennis Team (15-9) took out #36 Illinois (12-11) 4-0 on Friday, dropping only 3 sets in #1, #2, and #5 singles (all three matches going unfinished as they weren't needed for the win). Unfortunately, they turned around and got drummed 4-0 by #3, defending national champ, Ga. Tech (21-5) Saturday afternoon. The loss ends the season for the Ladies at 15-10, a respectable record which ties for the most wins by them in the last 5 years. On the bright side, the future for Lady Tennis-ee looks very good with a lot of returning young talent who should make next season very interesting. Also, two Ladies, Caitlin Whoriskey and Zsofia Zubor will travel to Tulsa May 21-26 to compete in the NCAA Individual Championships. They will play doubles together and Ms. Whoriskey will also play singles. Best of luck to both these Ladies and let's hope they do well.

And lastly, the Lady Vol Softballers did just what I wanted and whooped GA 5-2 on Thursday, completing the season sweep of the Dirty Dawgs. Gotta love beating GA at anything! However, unfortunately, the Ladies turned around and got beat by the only other more un-holy school in the East. Yup, the doggone Gaytors. #14 UT (47-14) lost 6-1 to #1 FLA (61-2) Friday evening in the semi's of the SEC Tourney, ending their season. The good news, however, is that the Ladies have been given a national #13 seed in the NCAA's and have been granted a Regional to host! This will be the 4th consecutive year the Ladies have hosted a Regional in the NCAA Tournament. Unfortunately though, it's no cake walk. The Vols' Regional will include Big South Champion Winthrop (36-17), Louisville (30-21), and ACC Champion Va. Tech (44-15). UT will start off the weekend with Winthrop at 5 pm on Friday the 16th. If the Lady Vols get through the weekend, they will face 4th seeded Michigan (48-6) in a best of three series at a Super Regional for the right to go to Oklahoma City. This is UT's sixth NCAA Regional and their 5th consecutively. UT has made three straight trips to the Women's CWS finishing 3rd in 2005 and 2006 and 2nd last year. Let's wish them luck and hope they make it a fourth straight trip. GO VOLS!!!

That's all the Action. Like I said, some good, some not so good, but we still have a few irons in the fire so to speak. It's not summer just yet.

GO VOLS!!!!