UK 3, Western Illinois 0: |
The University of Kentucky volleyball team suffered its first loss of the season as host Southwest Missouri State earned a 3-0 victory in the opening night of the T.J. Sales Dr. Mary Jo Wynn Invitational in Springfield, Mo. Sarah Spinner led the Wildcats with 12 kills and 11 digs on .171 hitting.
Kentucky fell behind 8-3 early in the first game, forcing Coach Jona Braden to call a timeout. The Cats responded quickly, cutting the lead to two at 8-6 after a kill by Danielle Wallace. The Bears pushed the advantage back to six at 12-6, and Kentucky couldn?t get back in the game until late. With the score set at 27-21, UK used a 4-1 run to cut the lead to three at 28-25, but the Cats couldn?t get closer and lost the first game, 30-25. Kentucky hit -.038 in the first game and was led by Spinner with four kills.
The Wildcats fell behind early to start the second game, letting SMSU build to a 10-5 lead. Kentucky continued to struggle after a timeout break, and fell behind by as many as 10 points at 20-10. The Bears continued to hammer away, however, extending the lead to 12 at 26-14, forcing another Kentucky timeout. Southwest Missouri closed out the game, 30-16, on a service ace by Jane Parker.
UK came back strong in game three, taking the first point on a Spinner kill. SMSU took four quick points to earn a 4-1 edge, but UK took the next three points to tie the game again. The Wildcats worked up to an 11-8 lead on a kill by Ki Eveland, forcing a Bears timeout. SMSU returned from the break and took three of the next four points to pull within one at 12-11. A UK timeout wouldn?t distract the home team, which continued to challenge the Cats at every turn.
The teams fought through seven ties throughout the middle of the game, seemingly matching each other at every turn. With SMSU holding a 21-20 edge, Spinner placed a kill to tie the match again at 21. The Cats then took the next two points to earn a 23-21 lead and force a Southwest Missouri timeout. The Bears rebounded from the timeout to take two quick points, evening the score again. Three more ties ensued before an attack error by Wallace forced Braden to burn another timeout with SMSU leading 27-26.
A kill by Montefalco evened the score again at 27 before two more ties at 28 and 29. SMSU gained the advantage again at 30-29, and UK was unable to knot things again as Kaplan was blocked to seal the victory for the Bears with a 31-29 win.
Overall, Kentucky hit just .047 on the night. The statistics were pretty even, though SMSU had 12 team blocks to Kentucky?s seven.
The Wildcats return to action on Saturday, Sept. 4, when they face Fresno State at 1 p.m. ET and Middle Tennessee State at 6 p.m. ET. Fans can follow all the action through live stats at UKathletics.com.
