Teams looking to end losing streaks

With the Southeastern Conference Tournament only a month away, Sunday’s match-up between the Kentucky Wildcats and the Georgia Bulldogs is looming large.

Whoever wins the contest Sunday, Oct. 15 at 2 p.m. at Memorial Coliseum, could to determine which team gets invited, and which team stays home. Only the top eight seeds receive invitations to the tournament.

Kentucky (4-13, 2-4 SEC) needs a victory to remain out of the SEC Eastern Division cellar, a position currently occupied by Georgia. UK has not won a conference match since Oct. 24 when it downed Ole Miss.

UGA (9-9, 1-5 SEC) has lost its last five conference games after winning its SEC opener against Auburn. The Bulldogs are young, yet extremely talented. The Bulldogs roster consists of only one senior to go along with three juniors, three sophomores and four freshmen Stacey Buerger leads the Dawgs in kills with 232 on the season (3.61 per game). Luresa Forsythe is averaging a team leading 2.81 digs per game. Kristine Keesse and Erin Gornes present a formidable wall on defense ranking amongst the blocking leaders in the conference.

The Cats are coming off a home loss Friday night to SEC East leader Florida. UK struggled offensively during the first two games, but started to execute better in the final game of the match. Kristen Batt and Megan Weiskircher played well in Kentucky’s new offense combining for 23 kills.

Sunday will be a homecoming for first-year UGA head coach Mary Buczek and assistant coach Jane Belanger-Thomas. Both played for the Wildcats. Buczek was a First Team All-SEC selection for the Cats in 1989 and Belanger-Thomas ranks second on the all-time UK assists list.

Georgia swept last year’s match 3-0 in Athens and has a slim 18-17 advantage over Kentucky in the overall series.