After a season that ended unlike any other in program history, Tennessee will begin its 2025 season in an unfamiliar spot, too: defending national champions.

On the heels of their first-ever College World Series title, the Vols begin another campaign of high expectations in a little more than a month. They’ll also start ranked highly in the polls.

TALK ABOUT IT IN THE ROCKY TOP FORUM

Tennessee debuted at No. 4 in the D1 Baseball Preseason Top 25 on Monday–32 days before it opens the season with a three-game series against Hofstra on Feb. 14 at Lindsey Nelson Stadium.

The Vols’ home field is currently under-going its next phase of construction. New stands were added down the third base line prior to last season and stadium will have a couple of other noticeable changes by first pitch. It will also have a new national championship banner.

Tennessee and eighth-year head coach Tony Vitello will have their work cut out for it in its defense of that crown, though and it will have to do it without some of the key pieces that helped earn it, including sluggers Christian Moore and Blake Burke. Third baseman Billy Amick and outfielders Kavares Tears and Dylan Dreiling are gone, as well as some big arms, including Drew Beam and A.J. Causey.

The Vols have some notable returners that were also paramount in their CWS run last June. Hunter Ensley, one of the heroes of Tennessee’s championship final triumph of Texas A&M, headlines the outfield and Dean Curley is back after a standout freshman campaign at shortstop.

Right-handed pitcher Nate Snead is the leader among the pitching staff.

MORE FROM VOLREPORT: Tennessee 2025 baseball schedule released

Several of the Vols’ opponents were included in the poll, too. In fact, the SEC was heavily represented, to little surprise.

The league is poised to continue its long-standing dominance of college baseball with nine teams ranked, including six teams in the top 10.

Texas A&M leads the way at No. 1, followed by LSU (3), Arkansas (5), Georgia (8) and Florida (10).

Vanderbilt (16), Mississippi State (18) and Texas (19) made up for the rest of the league’s representation in the poll.

All of those teams reached the postseason a year ago, with Texas A&M and Florida joining Tennessee in the CWS field in Omaha and the Vols will have to play a three-game series against five of the teams ranked in the top 25.

The Lady Vols are 8th after a close loss and a dominant win during this week’s contests.

Tennessee had a tough loss against the sixth ranked team in the nation however they bounced back earlier in the day to defeat the Razorbacks by 30 points. Elsewhere Mississippi State upset the Oklahoma Sooners and No. 2 South Carolina dominated the Longhorns.

Here are all of the scores from this week.

Thursday, January 9th, 2025

Sunday, January 12th, 2025

Tennessee dropped in the rankings after a loss earlier in the week but maintained a middle tier ranking after their big win on Sunday.

Below are the full rankings in the SEC.

1. #2 South Carolina (16-1) (C: 4-0)
2. #15 Kentucky (15-1) (C: 4-0)
3. #6 LSU (18-0) (C: 3-0)
4. #5 Texas (16-2) (C: 3-1)
5. #18 Alabama (16-2) (C: 3-1)
6. Mississippi State (15-3) (C: 2-2)
7. #10 Oklahoma (14-3) (C: 2-2)
8. #16 Tennessee (14-2) (C: 2-2)
9. Ole Miss (11-5) (C: 2-2)
10. Florida (11-7) (C: 2-2)
11. Vanderbilt (14-3) (C: 1-2)
12. Georgia (9-9) (C: 1-3)
13. Texas A&M (8-8) (C: 1-3)
14. Arkansas (8-11) (C: 1-3)
15. Missouri (11-8) (C: 0-4)
16. Auburn (9-8) (C: 0-4)

Make sure to follow our website Tennessee on SI.

Tess Darby is available for Lady Vols basketball at Arkansas on Sunday.

The fifth-year senior guard was upgraded from probable on the game day SEC injury report released two hours before No. 15 Tennessee (13-2, 1-2 SEC) plays at Arkansas (8-10, 1-2) at Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville, Arkansas, on Sunday (1 p.m. ET, SEC Network).

Darby missed Tennessee’s two-point loss to No. 4 LSU with a rolled right ankle. She wore a short boot on her right foot at Food City Center on Thursday.

Darby is averaging 8.4 points and 2.4 rebounds and is shooting 34% from 3-point range on 6.7 attempts per game. She has started in six of the 14 games she has appeared in this season and averages 17.4 minutes.

There were no new injuries on the SEC student-athlete availability report. All Arkansas players are available and Tennessee is only without Kaiya Wynn, who is out for the season after tearing her Achilles.

Cora Hall covers University of Tennessee women’s athletics. Email her at cora.hall@knoxnews.com and follow her on Twitter @corahalll. If you enjoy Cora’s coverage, consider a digital subscription that allows you to access all of it.