Kentucky volleyball rolls in NCAA opener, sets up in-state battle for trip to Sweet 16
Kentucky volleyball rolled in its NCAA Tournament opener on Thursday night inside Memorial Coliseum to set up a prime-time in-state clash Friday night at the same venue, with a spot in the Sweet 16 on the line.
The No. 12 overall seed Wildcats improved to 21-7 overall this season with a 3-0 sweep over Loyola (Chicago) in a first round NCAA Tournament match in Lexington.
The victory set up a round-of-32 clash between UK and Western Kentucky on Friday.
“It’s exciting for our state. You look at the quality of volleyball in the state, it’s unbelievable,” UK head coach Craig Skinner said. “Then you see all the kids growing up playing here. That’ll be cool for them to see a match like this.”
Kentucky — which won at least a share of the SEC championship for the sixth straight season last weekend — had few issues with Loyola, which finishes its season 25-9 after winning the Atlantic 10 regular season and tournament titles.
UK won sets 25-17, 25-14 and 25-20 against Loyola.
The Wildcats were led by 15 kills from senior transfer outside hitter Adanna Rollins and 11 kills from junior opposite Reagan Rutherford.
As a team, UK hit at a .389 clip against the Ramblers.
“Adanna got us going and then people continued to step up as the match went on,” Skinner — whose team has now won 12 consecutive sets — said. “I think you saw the intensity in (Rollins) from the beginning of the match. She was ready to go... She’s been in the tournament before, she’s been in big matches, she won a national championship in club. She likes these moments.”
Just a few days removed from being named SEC Player of the Year, sophomore setter Emma Grome recorded 44 assists and five digs.
Grome’s selection as conference player of the year marked the fifth straight season that UK won the award: Leah Edmond (2018, 2019), Madison Lilley (2020) and Alli Stumler (2021).
“I think it shows a lot about our team. We have so many good hitters on this team and as I was able to do today, we keep it really balanced,” Grome, who learned of her SEC honor from social media, said.
The victory puts Kentucky into the round of 32, the stage at which the Cats suffered a shocking exit from postseason play last year.
UK entered the 2021 NCAA Tournament as the defending champions, but lost at home in the second round to Illinois.
It was an early elimination that has stayed with the Wildcats this season.
“I think it’s always been in the back of our head and we’ve definitely been playing with a chip on our shoulder this year,” Rutherford said last week. “We definitely want to go further and end up with the championship this year.”
Western Kentucky sweeps its opening match
Prior to Kentucky’s victory Thursday night, the Lexington sub-regional at Memorial Coliseum began with a three-set sweep win by Western Kentucky over Bowling Green State.
WKU (29-3) went 14-0 in Conference USA play this season, winning the C-USA regular-season championship for the fourth year in a row. Western Kentucky lost in five sets in the C-USA Tournament title match.
Thursday’s win over Bowling Green State (which finishes the season with a 22-10 record after being co-champions of the Mid-American Conference in the regular season and winning the MAC Tournament) marked the second time WKU beat BGSU this season.
The Hilltoppers also prevailed in a four-set match in September at BGSU.
This is WKU’s 15th NCAA Tournament appearance, all of which have come under current head coach Travis Hudson.
The Hilltoppers have made it to the second round of the tournament in 2012, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2021 and now 2022.
There is recent postseason history between Western Kentucky and UK as well.
In spring 2021, Kentucky defeated Western Kentucky in the Sweet 16 on its way to the national championship.
The task of taking down a favored in-state rival won’t faze the Hilltoppers though: Western Kentucky is 15-0 away from home this season and entered Thursday’s matches with the second-highest hitting percentage in the nation (.320).
“This season has been such a ride for me because we graduated six seniors, we lost our projected libero the day before we started two-a-days for the season. ... This team has not been the same as the Western Kentucky teams for the last two or three years,” Hudson said in apparent disbelief at how good his team had been away from home this season.
“But when you look at the results, it has been.”
The Hilltoppers have also had to battle through recent injury woes to get to the round of 32.
Fifth-year middle hitter Lauren Matthews (WKU’s leader in total kills) hurt her hand in practice Monday and didn’t practice all week for the Hilltoppers, but played in Thursday night’s win.
Freshman libero Abby Schaefer (WKU’s leader in digs) went down with a lower back injury during WKU’s practice Wednesday, but also played in the BGSU match.
Friday
No. 12 seed Kentucky vs. Western Kentucky
What: NCAA Tournament round-of-32 match
When: 7 p.m.
Where: Memorial Coliseum
Records: Kentucky 21-7, Western Kentucky 29-3
Last meeting: Kentucky won 3-0 on April 18, 2021, in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament at Omaha, Neb.
