Aug. 31, 2002
HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. – The University of Kentucky volleyball team dropped its second consecutive match of the season to Texas Tech, 3-0, at the Hofstra Asics Invitational in Hempstead, N.Y., on Saturday, Aug. 31.
Kentucky shot just .112 for the match to Tech’s .409, and was led by junior Sissy Canfield with a .700 hitting percentage and eight kills. Freshman Amy Kaplan made her debut as a Wildcat, knocking down four kills while hitting .375. Redshirt freshman Leigh Marcum also saw some time at setter, her first match at Kentucky.
Texas Tech got off to a fast start, taking a commanding 12-5 lead to force a UK timeout. The Cats managed to take the first point out of the timeout, but the Raiders went on a 12-3 run to go up 24-9. Kentucky linked together several points, but could never catch up. TTU took the game, 30-17.
UK took the Raiders to four early ties to start game two, but let a 10-3 Tech run put them at a disadvantage. After fighting to within four, Texas Tech got hot again, closing out the game with a 7-3 string for the 30-20 win.
The Cats appeared to regroup after the break, taking several early leads before a 6-1 run by TTU put UK down by six and forced a Wildcat timeout. Kentucky went down by as many as nine down the stretch before Tech took the game and the match with a 30-19 decision.
The Red Raiders scored nine service aces in the match to Kentucky’s three, while UK also had nine service reception errors on the day. UK falls to 0-2 on the season, its worst start since 1995, when the Cats dropped five in a row to open the season.
Kentucky returns to action at 3 p.m. today when they face Fairfield in their final match at the tournament.
