Volleyball Cats Peaking as NCAA Tournament Awaits
The Kentucky volleyball team appears to be peaking at the perfect time. Heading into the NCAA Tournament, the Cats are on an 11-match winning streak. UK has lost only three sets during that streak, and the Cats won their eighth consecutive Southeastern Conference championship.
On Sunday, Kentucky found out that it will be hosting the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament inside Historic Memorial Coliseum. Kentucky faces Cleveland State on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. If UK wins that match, the Cats would face the winner of Thursday’s match between Minnesota and Western Kentucky on Friday night at 7.
UK head coach Craig Skinner put together a very tough nonconference schedule to help prepare the Cats for what they would face in the postseason. How does Skinner think his team is playing as the postseason begins?
“We’re definitely a different team than in September,” Skinner said. “The way we’re playing, how we’re playing, the consistency that we’re playing with. Playing against those good teams has helped us in practice to be able to prepare and get to this point. It’s a good place to be in, but now it’s tournament time and it’s time to perform.”
Brooklyn DeLeye, who was named SEC Player of the Year on Sunday, likes how the Cats are playing heading into the tournament.
“I think we’re all just really pumped,” DeLeye said. “Yeah, it was a hard preconference (slate) but that really prepares us because we get to work on things. That really helped us. I think we’re jelling at the right time.”
Senior setter Emma Grome also likes how her team is peaking at just the right time.
“I feel really good,” Grome said. “We always say that’s why we like playing that schedule in nonconference. It’s very tough but it shows us what we need to work on to be able to step up in those big moments and against the best teams in the country. I think we did learn a lot from those and now we’re rolling when we need to be rolling. I’m excited for how we’ve progressed and I can’t wait to see what we do in the tournament.”
Skinner knows that there are plenty of good teams in this year’s field.
“Every team in this tournament has a challenging draw in one way or another,” Skinner said. “Ours is no different. We get the chance to play at home, which is awesome, and get to be in front of our home crowd again. Our challenge is beating Cleveland State and then moving on to the next tough challenge.”
Kentucky is peaking at the right time, with the NCAA Tournament beginning this week. The Cats hope to turn that momentum into a deep postseason run.
