TENNESSEE VOLS SWIMMING: 2026-27 season getting started

After a pair of top five finishes at the NCAA Championships, the Vols and Lady Vols get the 2026-27 season started this weekend. The season gets underway on Friday, as Tennessee hosts a match in the College Swimming League. The season's opening weekend comes to close on Saturday with a dual meet against Carson-Newman.

This will be the first of two matches for Tennessee in the College Swimming League, with the team competing in a matchup later this month in Athens, Georgia. Tennessee hosts a trio of ranked opponents, welcoming No. 1/10 Virginia, No. 6/8 Michigan, and No. 8/12 Louisville.

Both men's and women's sides for Tennessee open the season ranked in the CSCAA poll, with the Lady Vols ranked fourth and the Vols at five. The meet begins at 6:30 p.m. ET, with doors opening at 5 p.m. ET.

The meet will be streamed live on ESPN+ starting at 6:30, before moving to a linear broadcast on SEC Network at 7 p.m.

Tennessee's dual meet against Carson-Newman gets underway at 10 a.m. ET, with live results also available on Meet Mobile.

The Lady Vols return most of their top competitors for a season ago. 18-time All-American Camille Spink returns for her senior year. Spink swept the 50, 100, and 200 Freestyle for the second consecutive year at the SEC Championships, winning the 50 and 100 Free for the third for the third year in a row. At the 2026 NCAA Championships, Spink took home the bronze in the 50 Free, marking the best finish for Lady Vol in the event since 2019, while anchoring the 400 medley relay team that took home silver.

McKenzie Siroky also returns for the Lady Vols this season. The junior took home the silver medal at NCAAs last season in the 100 breaststroke. Siroky had a strong summer of competition, which saw her winning both the 50m and 100m breast at the USA Swimming National Championships.

The duo of Ella Jansen and Emily Brown are also back for the Lady Vols this season. Jansen won three individual medals at last season's SEC Championships, winning gold in the 400 IM and bronze in both the 200 Fly and 500 Free. Brown also captured three medals at the 2026 SEC Championships, with silver in the 200 Fly and bronze in the 200 and 400 IM.

On the diving side, Desharne Bent-Ashmeil returns after earning national runner-up honors 3-meter.

The men bring most of its top contributors from last season. Koby Bujak-Upton is back after finishing as the national runner-up in the 200 Free, the best finish in the event for Tennessee since 1979. Bujak-Upton also posted the fastest time in the event in the country last season of 1:29.79.

Two-time NCAA Champion Nikoli Blackman is back for his senior campaign. Blackman was a member of both the 200 and 400 Free Relay teams that finished in fourth place at NCAAs. Gabe Nunziata is back after a strong freshman season. Nunziata took home the silver medal at SECs last season and followed that up with a pair of top 10 finishes at NCAAs in both the 100 and 200 Breast.

For the men, both Bennett Greene and Thomas Ciprick are back. Greene returns after earning first team All-American honors following a third place finish in the 3-meter. Greene was the only diver to reach all three championship finals at NCAAs last season and led all divers in points with 38. Greene also won gold at SECs in the 1-meter, making him the first Vol to win the event since Liam Stone in 2017. Ciprick earned second-team All-American honors in two events last year, finishing ninth in the 3-meter and 11th in the 1-meter.

Tennessee welcomes two of the top classes in the nation, both ranked as the No. 2 overall recruiting classes by SwimSwam. The women's class is highlighted by a pair of top rated recruits in Charlotte Crush (No. 2 overall recruit) and Molly Sweeney (No. 5 overall recruit), as well as the top-ranked diver in Isabel Baley.

The 2025 World Aquatics Junior Championships silver medalist Abduljabar Adama enters his first collegiate season and owns 13 records in his home country. Tennessee also has one of the top-ranked divers on the men's side, as Ivor Brown enters his first season with the Vols. The men's class also features two top 15 ranked recruits in Whitaker Steward (14th) and Drew Eubanks (15th).

A trio of impressive transfers join the roster ahead of the 2026-27 season. Julian Koch comes from Pitt, where he placed fourth in the 100 Free at the NCAA Championships. Kimmy Shannon also joins Tennessee from Pitt after qualifying for NCAAs in three events and placed ninth in the 400 IM at the ACC Championships. Vova Gavrysh comes from Division II McKendree, where he was the National Champion in both the 200 Free and 200 Fly, while also earning runner-up in the 200 IM.