A former UT volleyball player has launched a website to "bring back the Lady Vols" after the UT athletic department opted to remove the lady title from all UT female teams except basketball.
Leslie Cikra said, "I am a former Lady Volunteer Volleyball Player and I am helping spearhead this website, along with the help of all of the contributing Lady Vols. During my tenure at Tennessee my class finished with a 99-27 record overall, the highest winning percentage in program history at .786 and my team was 2011 first-time-sole SEC Champions.
"I have been working with a handful of other former Lady Vols to bring awareness to the Tennessee athletic department’s decision to remove the Lady Vol logo. We are all deeply disappointed and hurt by the University taking away this tradition for all women’s sports with the exception of basketball in an attempt to rebrand athletics.
"The University of Tennessee announced a branding restructure within their athletic department on November 10, 2014.
"After posting my own letter to Tennessee on my personal blog, and having over 4500 views in the first four days, I realized how powerful of an outlet a website could really be. This website is going to be a running collection of letters.
"I hope that you will all take the time to read the letters. It will help explain through the eyes of the Lady Vols, the impact that this decision will have not only on former athletes, but on the future of Tennessee athletics. Please refer to our LETTERS tab to find the letters from Lady Volunteers, and please join us in our fight by signing our change.org PETITION to bring back the Lady Vols!"