Kentucky earns top seed in first SEC Volleyball Tournament since 2005

by: Zack Geoghegan4 hours agoZGeogheganKSR

Kentucky volleyball wins ninth straight SEC championship - UK Athletics

After closing out a perfect regular season in the SEC on Sunday, the Wildcats have earned the conference tournament’s top overall seed.

The league announced Sunday afternoon that Kentucky has received the 1-seed in the SEC Volleyball Tournament, which begins Friday, Nov. 21, and continues until Tuesday, Nov. 25. Kentucky will receive a double-bye, playing its first match in the quarterfinals on Sunday, Nov. 23 at noon ET on the SEC Network. UK will face the winner of 8-seed Auburn and 9-seed Oklahoma/16-seed Arkansas.

This year marks the first time the SEC has held a tournament since 2005, with the 2025 edition set for the Enmarket Arena in Savannah, GA. The SEC Tournament originally took place at campus sites from 1979-1987, moved to neutral sites from 1988-1993, and returned to campus arenas from 1994-2005 before it was taken away. Along with Kentucky, Texas A&M, Texas, and Tennessee round out the top four seeds, respectively.

Below is the complete bracket.

To quickly recap how we reached this point, Kentucky finished the regular season with an overall record of 22-2, including a perfect 15-0 mark against SEC competition. UK is currently ranked second in the nation and is riding a 19-match win streak into the postseason. The lone losses this season have come against No. 1 Nebraska and No. 3 Pittsburgh. With Sunday’s sweeping of Arkansas, the Wildcats officially secured the program’s ninth straight SEC championship.

Get the Daily On3 Newsletter in your inbox every morning

By clicking "Subscribe to Newsletter", I agree to On3's Privacy Notice, Terms, and use of my personal information described therein.

Now, it’s time to start a new streak in the SEC Tournament.

Regardless of Kentucky’s first opponent in the event, it will come against a team the Wildcats have already beaten. UK took down (8) Auburn 3-1 back in mid-October and just made easy work of the (16) Razorbacks in a sweep. But (11) Oklahoma could be an interesting matchup if it were to play out that way. Kentucky found itself down 2-0 against the Sooners just a couple of days ago before pulling off an impressive reverse sweep.

Kentucky would likely welcome that challenge, though. Head coach Craig Skinner has the Wildcats rolling as the program searches for its second national title.

Join KSR Plus! With a KSR Plus membership, you get access to bonus content and KSBoard, KSR’s message board, to chat with fellow Cats fans and get exclusive scoop.