Kaiya Wynn leaves Lady Vols, says senior day ‘breaking point’

Kaiya Wynn, a reserve guard for the Tennessee women’s basketball team, said Tuesday that she is leaving the program, calling what she saw as an offense during senior day over the weekend a “breaking point.”

The Lady Vols lost the regular season finale Sunday to No. 5 Vanderbilt 87-77 at Thompson-Boling Arena. Wynn did not play in the game. She has only played nine games this season after missing the entire 2024-25 season with an Achilles tendon injury. The Tennessee native spent five years in the program.

“This decision was not made lightly or instantly,” Wynn wrote on social media. “Over the past five years, I have given my all for Tennessee and I haven’t regretted doing so once. Obviously, my last two seasons on the team were less than ideal for many reasons, but the night I looked forward to the most was senior night.

“As someone who had never started a match in my career, I was hoping to start in my final appearance at Thompson-Boling. That obviously didn’t happen, and being asked to check the match with 15 seconds left while I was losing was not the way I wanted to spend my final moments in my arena after five years. While that wasn’t the only reason, it was the breaking point for me. I have the greatest love and the most great respect for my teammates and this program and I wish everyone the best.”

“We’re going to miss her,” Caldwell told reporters Wednesday. “She was loved in this program, and we respect her decision, but we have to kind of turn the page and focus on the SEC Tournament.”

Senior center Jersey Wolfenbarger, who has played in 18 games this season, also did not play in Sunday’s game. She transferred to Tennessee after two years at Arkansas and one at LSU. Tennessee’s other seniors — Janiah Barker, Nya Robertson and Zee Spearman — have started several games this season, including Sunday.

The Lady Vols are the No. 6 seed in this week’s SEC tournament in Greenville, South Carolina. In Thursday’s second round, they will face the Alabama-Missouri winner.

Tennessee (16-12, 8-8) has been struggling since late January, when it was upset at home by Mississippi State. He has lost nine of his last 11 matches, including the last six. That stretch included a 30-point loss at UConn and a program-worst 43-point loss at South Carolina.

After falling to the Gamecocks, Caldwell said, “We had a lot of quits in us tonight. … When we’re not comfortable and things aren’t going the way we want them to, I have a team that’s just going to quit on you, and you can’t do that in big games.”