Lady Vols coverage by Maria Cornelius (October 7 to 14, 2011)

Maria M. Cornelius is an Inside Tennessee senior sportswriter for Inside Tennessee.com providing basketball coverage of the Tennessee Lady Vols.

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The free articles in this set include:

• Fall ball underway for softball: The Lady Vol softball team continued the fall ball portion of its schedule this past week with wins over Western Kentucky and Chattanooga State at Lee Softball Stadium.

The articles requiring a Premium subscription in this set include:

• Cierra Burdick eager to help team: Cierra Burdick fielded media questions after practice Thursday, smiled during the process – her default position seems to be one of being perpetually upbeat – and then bolted for the other end of Pratt Pavilion to get in extra shots with an assistant coach.
• Lady Vols 'getting better' in practice: The Lady Vols were a tad tuckered on the third consecutive day of practice – and a fourth one will be held today before taking an off day – but they still managed to get in a lot of work on both sides of the ball in an efficient session that clocked in at just under two hours.
• Vicki Baugh back to basketball: The sight of Vicki Baugh sprinting the floor, hitting layups in transition, blocking shots and directing traffic in the paint brings smiles to the faces of the coaches not just because her absence was one of the single biggest factors in the Lady Vols’ struggles but also because they admire so much what the fifth-year player has overcome.
• Lady Vols get lots of preseason reps: With juniors Kamiko Williams and Taber Spani out of practice because of surgery and freshman Ariel Massengale sidelined under the program’s concussion protocol after a collision with a teammate the Lady Vols had just eight players available Tuesday.
• Lady Vols hold advanced sessions: The Lady Vols continued their accelerated approach to preseason practice with in-bounds plays and defensive pressure packages added Thursday to the fundamental staples of dribbling, shooting and passing drills.
• Taber Spani on track after surgery : Taber Spani was working Pat Summitt’s basketball camp last June when she happened to look up and see the national title banners. That is when it fully hit her – she described it as a tidal wave of disappointment – that another season had fallen short of orange-and-white expectations.