KNOXVILLE – When the Tennessee women’s tennis players grab their cellphones and open the GroupMe application used to facilitate communication within the team, they are greeted with a subtle reminder of a lofty ideal.
The name of the team’s group message thread, bestowed by second-year head coach Alison Ojeda, is “championship culture.”
“We work toward that vision every day,” said junior Sadie Hammond, the team’s No. 1 singles player. “We always talk about it.”
After missing the NCAA tournament in 2015 and 2016, the Lady Vols are back in the team event for the second straight season under Ojeda and making strides toward restoring the culture of NCAA tournament runs that included Ojeda as an All-America player at Tennessee from 1998 to 2002.
Tennessee, ranked 38th nationally, will take on No. 33 Oregon on Friday at 1 p.m. in Durham, N.C., in the tournament’s first round. The team is not expected to push deep into the tournament, but on a roster with no seniors that lost its top players from a year ago, there are signs the culture Ojeda craves is materializing.