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The Kentucky volleyball team knew they were playing their final game of the season inside Memorial Coliseum on Friday. So, the cats decided to put on a de facto clinic.
For the first two sets of Friday’s sweep of Western Kentucky, the Cats did just that. Kentucky showed how to serve effectively and play defense, especially on the back line, on their way to a two-set advantage.
The Cats would go on a sweep of Western Kentucky, taking three sets in about 90 minutes. Kentucky has now won four straight without dropping a set.
At times in the first set, it looked like the ball wouldn’t hit the floor on Kentucky’s side of the net. The Cats had 23 digs in the frame, including 10 from sophomore libero Eleanor Bevin and five from freshman Audrey Whitworth.
Bevin credited her first-set performance to the Cats’ style of play.
“They run a different type of offense than we usually see, so there were a lot of crazy balls that we weren’t used to, so I was really trying to be scrappy and pick everything up,” Bevin said. “Luckily, the ball kind of knocked me around. Defense is a big factor. If we could slow down their best hitters, we (knew) if we could slow down their best hitters, we could be successful tonight.
The Cats had four players with at least six digs in the match, led by Bevin, who scored 13. Whitworth and Adana Rollins each had seven and Rhea Walker had six.
And while the UK back line defense was solid, the serving game was just as good. The Cats had five aces by five different servers in one set.
The second set was similar to the first with the Cats continuing to dig a high percentage of WKU’s offense and going strong all game. UK had 16 digs in the second set with three aces. It all added up to a 25-16 set win and a 2-0 lead.
Senior Azani Tiller believes the change in practice has led to the Cats serving more effectively of late.
“The way we started serving in practice and training to serve late in the season has been really good,” Tiller said. “Obviously, serving has been really good towards the end of the season. We were really aggressive, we hit our serves and Merideth did a good job of calling them, so that was good.”
The Cats would trail by six points in the third set. But, as they did all night, the Cats served effectively, including a pair of aces from Whitworth, to eventually take the lead and win the set, 25-21.
The UK had 10 service aces by six different players in the match. In contrast, Western Kentucky did not have a service ace.
UK head coach Craig Skinner was pleased with his team’s performance in Friday’s match.
“Obviously, proud of our players for coming out ready to play tonight,” Skinner said. “Back to back with two different opponents is tough. Really proud of the way our kids played, hitting .360 and giving us a chance to score points with our serve.”
With the win, Kentucky advances to the Sweet 16, where they will likely face San Diego, though that has not been determined at the time this article was written.
Over the past two weeks, the Cats have shown the ability to serve effectively, pass at a high rate, turn on the blocking game and hit with great efficiency. As they move toward the Sweet 16, that versatility should be an advantage for Kentucky.
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