The Tennessee Lady Vols were an 11 seed during the 2019 NCAA tournament and had been projected as an 11 seed last year before the 64-team event was wiped out by the outbreak of the coronavirus.
This year, they left no doubt.
Tennessee earned the third seed in the Riverwalk Region for this year's NCAA women's tournament, which is being held in San Antonio due to the continuing pandemic and has regions named for landmarks familiar to that city. The Lady Vols (16-7) will open NCAA play Sunday afternoon (2 on ABC) against 14th-seeded Middle Tennessee State (17-7), which earned its invitation by winning the Conference USA tournament.
MTSU is led by 5-foot-7 redshirt junior guard Anastasia Hayes, who is averaging 26.5 points, 5.6 rebounds and 5.1 assists per game. Hayes played for the Lady Vols as a freshman in 2017-18, averaging 9.3 points and 3.5 assists per game and ranking second on the team in assists (114) and steals (44).
Tennessee is making its 39th consecutive appearance in the NCAA tournament, with 31 of those trips made by the legendary Pat Summitt and seven by Holly Warlick. This is the first NCAA journey for the Lady Vols under second-year coach Kellie Harper, who is now the second coach in women's history to take four separate programs to the March extravaganza.
Harper previously took Western Carolina, North Carolina State and Missouri State.
The first coach to make NCAA trips with four separate programs was Jim Foster, who took St. Joseph's, Vanderbilt, Ohio State and UTC.
Should Tennessee top the Blue Raiders, the Lady Vols would play the winner of sixth-seeded Michigan (14-5) and 11th-seeded Florida Gulf Coast (26-2). The top seed in the Riverwalk Region is Connecticut, whose 11 national titles rank first among all women's teams with Tennessee's eight ranking next.
Tennessee, which once made 27 straight trips to the NCAA tournament's Sweet 16, hasn't reached that stage since 2016.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.