Kentucky volleyball opens season vs. Marquette, Ohio this weekend
The Kentucky volleyball team is set to open its season this weekend, starting with a head-to-head battle with Marquette on Friday.
Led by 18th-year head coach Craig Skinner, the Wildcats will take on the Golden Eagles inside historic Memorial Coliseum tonight at 7 p.m. ET. The match will be streamed live on SEC Network+, ESPN+ and the ESPN app with Dick Gabriel and the executive director of the American Volleyball Coaches’ Association, Kathy DeBoer on the call.
“What a cool time for our sport. The growth continues to amaze us. It’s a unique season for us in a lot of ways,” Skinner said at Volleyball Media Day “… We have a lot of experience, a lot of new faces, All-Americans returning, players who weren’t highly recruited on the roster and everything in-between. But in individual meetings, there’s a lot of excitement. I really enjoy this team in training.”
“Our schedule speaks for itself, we’ve never shied away from playing tough teams. This is no exception. The goal is to put together a schedule so you’re playing your best volleyball in November and December, and this schedule will get us to this point.”
UK defeated Dayton 3-1 in an exhibition match on the road last Saturday.
Tickets can be purchased at UKathletics.com/tickets with UK employing all mobile tickets for the 2022-23 calendar school year again. Tickets begin at $8 for general admission adult entry and $10 for reserved chairback seating seats. Youth and senior general admission seating prices begin at $5.
Memorial Coliseum will host Ohio vs. Marquette on Saturday at 4 p.m. ET with free admission.
Kentucky closes out the opening weekend on Sunday at 4 p.m. ET against Ohio University inside Memorial live on the SEC Network with Eric Frede and Kelly Burke on the call from Lexington.
UK played Marquette in 2021 during the third week of competition a season ago and swept the Golden Eagles in Milwaukee in three very tight sets with two of the three frames going extra points. The last time Marquette came to Lexington, they beat Kentucky 3-1 in 2016. UK leads the all-time series with Marquette 3-2.
The Wildcats and Bobcats have met eight prior times, with UK leading the series, six games to two. The two side’s last meeting was Sept. 1, 2015 when OU won 3-1 over the Wildcats.
UK volleyball opens the season ranked No. 11 overall in the American Volleyball Coaches’ Association top-25 poll. The Wildcats are the top-ranked team in the Southeastern Conference to open the year.
For the complete volleyball schedule, click here.
Discuss This Article
Comments have moved.
Join the conversation and talk about this article and all things Kentucky Sports in the new KSR Message Board.
KSBoard