Oct. 29, 1999
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The UK volleyball team shook off a bad start against theTennessee Lady Vols to beat the third place team in the SEC, 3-2, in front ofan exuberant Memorial Coliseum crowd. Game scores were 0-15, 15-13, 15-7, 8-15and 15-12.
Senior Katie Eiserman led UK (12-10, 5-5 SEC) with 15 kills while MeganWeiskircher stabilized the back row all night with 13 digs. For the first timeall-season, UK won a match despite hitting below .100 (.099). UT hit .149 forthe match.
“You can summarize our effort in three words: heart, fight and courage,” UKCoach Jona Braden said. “That first game will go down in history looking bad,but we put it right out of our minds and focused on what we had to do to win.”The outcome looked bleak for the Cats after that first game as Tennesseecruised to a 15-0 victory, marking the first time that the Cats had beenshutout in a game all season. UT out-hit the Cats in the game by an incredibleadvantage of .556 to -.227.
UK came to play in game two though, building an early 5-0 lead. UTevened the game at 8-8, but the Cats fought back to reach game point at 14-10.UK had to weather another comeback by the Vols (16-10, 6-4 SEC) before puttingaway the game at 15-13.
Runs by each team marked game three as the Cats opened up a 4-1 leadbefore dropping six straight. Trailing 7-6, UK got its block going to recordfour total blocks and grab the next 11 points for a 15-7 win and improbable 2-1lead in games.
In game four, a determined Tennessee team came out to claim leadsof 6-0and 12-4 en route to forcing the deciding game five with a 15-8 win. Anymomentum gained by the Vols in staving off elimination in game four was quicklylost in the fifth game as the Cats jumped out to a 7-1 lead. Refusing to givein to the Cats? charge, the Vols evened the score at 7-7 and grabbed the leadat 10-9. But they would not lead again as Kentucky won six of the next eightpoints to escape with a 15-12 win.
UK is now 4-2 in five-game matches this season. Tennessee had won the lastthree meeting against Kentucky. Early in game one, Eiserman, a senior, recordedthe 3,500th attack attempt of her distinguished career. Only two players inschool history have recorded that many attempts.
The Cats will attempt to make it two in a row against the Vols when the twoteams hoop-up again on Sunday at UT?s Stokely Athletics Center. Match time isscheduled for 2 p.m.
AGATE
Memorial Coliseum 7 p.m.
Attendance: 246
