The University of Kentucky volleyball team has steadily improved over the past two seasons under the direction of new head coach Craig Skinner. The Wildcats continue to prove that theirs is a program on the rise in the ever-competitive Southeastern Conference.

The Wildcats wrapped up SEC play over the weekend and rank fourth in the final league standings. Kentucky is now 18-10 on the year with one non-conference match to play and finished 11-9 in the conference standings. The fourth-place finish, 18 season wins and 11 SEC victories are all the most by a Wildcat team since the 1993 season.

?Winning six of our last eight matches to finish fourth shows the character of this team in the way they responded under pressure,? said Skinner. ?We are an emerging program and our character and resilience was tested all season long. We are proud of the way our team elevated Kentucky volleyball once again in 2006. The SEC is a tough conference and this was no easy task.?

UK has a chance to add to its win total when it faces Cincinnati on Friday night, Nov. 24, in the regular season finale. The Wildcats will learn their NCAA post-season fate when the field of 64 is announced on Nov. 26, between 3 and 3:30 p.m. EST on ESPNEWS.