Even with Super Regional series loss to Arkansas Razorbacks, Tennessee Vols did something no team had done since 2018

It was a season that felt like a rollercoaster ride at times for the 2025 Tennessee Volunteers.  One season removed from a 60-win campaign and the program's first ever national championship, the Vols endured a rocky road through the last half of their conference slate, falling from the nation's top team to the middle of the pack in the SEC. 

Still, Tony Vitello managed to direct this team through a home regional and back to the Super Regionals for the fifth straight year.  And that trek is the longest that any defending national champion has gone since the 2018 season. 

In 2024, defending champion LSU made it back to the postseason.  However, they fell in extra innings in the decisive game of the Chapel Hill to North Carolina 4-3, finishing the year 43-23.  

In 2022 and 2023, defending champions Mississippi State and Ole Miss, respectively, both failed to qualify for the NCAA tournament.  There was no defending champion in 2021 due to COVID cancelling the 2020 season, and the 2019 champion Vanderbilt Commodores didn't get the chance to defend, with their season ending at 13-5 because of the pandemic. 

Oregon State was knocked out in the regional phase of the tournament at home back in 2019, ending their season at 36-20-1.  

And that takes us to the last national champion to make it beyond the regionals - the 2018 Florida Gators.  Kevin O'Sullivan's team won it all in 2017 and made a return trip to Omaha in 2018, where they were eliminated by Arkansas in the final game before the championship series after winning 2 games in Omaha. 

As such, the Vols reaching the Super Regionals off a 60-win season - not to mention the loss of 8 players in the Major League Baseball draft back in July 2024 - was an impressive feat in and of itself.  

However, that's obviously not going to be enough to give Tony Vitello any solace, who now turns his attention fully to getting his roster as ready as possible to return to Omaha in 2026.