Coming off an impressive 3-1 win over Alabama last Sunday, the Kentucky volleyball team embarks on its first Southeastern Conference road trip of the season this weekend. The Wildcats will face Georgia at 7 p.m. Friday in Athens, Ga., and No. 5 Florida at 1:30 p.m. Sunday in Gainesville, Fla.
In Kentucky?s first league victory over the Crimson Tide last weekend, the Wildcats (8-4, 1-1 SEC) were led by their senior class of Amy Kaplan, Leigh Marcum and Danielle Wallace. Kaplan registered 16 kills came on .469 hitting with four blocks to lead the Cats. Wallace tallied 14 kills, while Marcum had six kills on .375 hitting, 53 assists, eight digs and six blocks. Four of Marcum?s blocks, including all three solo stops, came in the decisive fourth game.
Wallace leads the team this season with a team-high 4.31 kills per game which ranks seventh in the SEC, while Kaplan is hitting a squad-best .339. Freshman middle blocker Queen Nzenwa is the team?s leading blocker with 1.29 rejections per game.
Marcum is sixth in the SEC with an average of 11.47 digs per game, while junior libero Jenni Casper heads the defensive effort with 172 digs, sixth in the league.
Georgia, under the direction of first-year head coach Steffi Legall, is 6-6 on the season and 1-1 in the SEC. The Bulldogs are led by senior middle blocker Alexandra Oquendo, who is hitting a squad-best .352 on the season, while senior outside hitter Julia Petruschke is tops on the squad with 4.48 kills per game. Setter Chelsea Young is fourth in the league with 12.30 assists per game.
Georgia leads the all-time series with the Wildcats, 24-21, and the two teams have split each of the last eight meetings.
Florida, coached by former UK assistant coach Mary Wise, leads the all-time series with Kentucky 33-9, including a season sweep of the Cats last year. UK has not defeated UF since the 1990 season and is currently on a 31-game losing skid to the Gators.
The Gators are 13-1 on the season, including a perfect 3-0 mark in league action. Florida is coming off a 3-0 sweep of Georgia in Athens on Wednesday. Sophomore middle blocker Kisya Killingsworth is hitting a team-high .381, which ranks third in SEC play. Senior libero Rachel Engel is leading the SEC in digs with a league-best 5.48 digs per game.
Fans can follow all of the action with live stats on www.ukathletics.com.
