UK Volleyball Gets Biggest Win So Far Against #4 Minnesota

(H/t Regina Rickert) The #19 UK Women’s Volleyball team went 1-1 this weekend at the Kentucky Classic. The girls were upset in a sweep by Pepperdine, but the girl’s did not let that performance affect their match against #4 Minnesota. UK’s defeat of Minnesota is the biggest in the Skinner era, and one of the biggest in the history of the program, and shows the girls have what It takes to go far in the tournament. Vs. Pepperdine: 0-3 The underdog of the classic was the Pepperdine Waves. However, The Waves won both of their matches at the Kentucky Classic, one against Louisville, 3-1, and another against UK, 3-0. This match snapped UK’s five match winning streak. UK head coach Craig Skinner showed his disappointment in the post-game conference. “It was a disappointing performance, we didn’t come to play,” he said. “Pepperdine had too many runs and didn’t allow us to get in a rhythm offensively.” Set 1: UK was up 16-12 however Pepperdine rallied to take a 26-24 win. UK put down 14 on a .205 clip. Set 2: Pepperdine continued to roll over the Cats with a 5-0 lead to start. UK would never regain the lead and lost the set 25-18. UK had only 9 hammers on .138 hitting. Set 3: The set went back and forth before UK took a 23-18 lead. However Pepperdine scored 7 points in a row to take the match 25-23. Pepperdine only had 12 kills on .176 hitting, but won simply off of Kentucky’s errors. Vs. Minnesota: 3-2 After spending the day at the football game, UK volleyball won a tight match against the #4 ranked Minnesota Gophers. Before the Gophers faced UK they had not lost a set all season. Set 1: In the first, UK was up on Minnesota 20-14. The Gophers never recovered, and UK took the set 25-18. Minnesota was shocked as it lost its first set of the season. Set 2: This set was the definition of back-and-forth. UK and Minnesota tied at 1,2,3,4,5,6,, 8 and 9 before taking the lead at 16-13. However, Minnesota came from behind and beat the Cats 25-22. Set 3: The Wildcats went on a 10-3 run to lead Minnesota 18-11, and eventually had the set point at 24-13. Minnesota didn’t give up, but still lost the set 25-19 Set 4: Minnesota lead throughout the entire set, but the Cats didn’t give up, tying the set at 23 all. Minnesota got the final two points and won the set 25-23. Set 5: In a set to 15, UK scored 4 straight points to gain a 5-2 lead. Then went on to lead 9-3 and then 14-7. The Cats took the set, and won the match. You can see the girls celebration here: http://youtu.be/iYyxD8eVcog Both the girls AND members of #BBN couldn't hold back their joy.