The Kentucky volleyball team will look to get back on the winning track this weekend as it hosts South Carolina and 16th-ranked Tennessee. After dropping a pair of matches on the road to Arkansas and LSU last weekend, the Cats will host the Volunteers at 7 p.m. on Friday and the Gamecocks at 2 p.m. Sunday at Memorial Coliseum.
The Wildcats (11-10, 2-8 Southeastern Conference) will be looking to secure the eighth and final spot in the conference tournament to be held Nov. 18-21 in Gainesville, Fla. Auburn and Mississippi State currently hold a one game lead over UK with 4-7 league marks, while Ole Miss is tied with Kentucky with a 2-8 record.
In its last outing versus LSU, Kentucky was led by junior Amy Kaplan with 15 kills on .344 hitting and eight blocks. Sophomore Melissa Popp came off the bench to add 11 kills and 10 digs, while Danielle Wallace had 13 kills and a career-best seven blocks. Jenni Casper led the back-row defensive effort with 22 digs.
Outside hitter Sarah Spinner is leading the team with 3.96 kills per game and is second on the team with 2.74 digs per game. Kaplan holds the squad?s best hitting percentage with a .312 efficiency mark, while averaging a team high 0.94 blocks per game. Setter Ki Eveland is dishing out 11.7 assists per game for the Cats.
The Volunteers come to Lexington with a 20-2 record, though they dropped their first league match to Florida, 3-1, last weekend in Knoxville. UT pulled off a 3-1 win over the Gamecocks on Wednesday night.
Kentucky holds a 35-20 advantage in the all-time series versus Tennessee, but the Vols have won the last two meetings between the two schools.
South Carolina comes to town as one of only two conference teams that the Cats have beaten this season. The Gamecocks are 11-9, 4-7 in the conference, and are in the midst of a three-match league slide.
South Carolina leads the all-time series with Kentucky 17-13 and the Wildcats broke an eight-match losing streak to the Gamecocks with a 3-2 win earlier this season.
Fans can follow all of the action from this weekend?s matches with live stats on www.ukathletics.com.
