In practice leading up to the 2014 volleyball season, kills were hard to come by.What Craig Skinner wondered was whether that had more to do with the strength of Kentucky’s defense or the offense’s need to improve.After a season-opening win over Wichita State, the former seems more likely.Facing a team that reached the NCAA Tournament a season ago, the Wildcats were dominant on the attack in a decisive sweep of the Shockers.”I’m very happy with the way we played in our first match,” Skinner said. “Who knows what to expect. You know how you’ve been playing against your own team. Wichita State, even though they’re a young team, they’re always well coached and always very athletic.”It was a balanced effort that carried UK, with four Wildcats putting down at least six kills on the opening night of the Bluegrass Battle. Senior setter Morgan Bergren guided an offense that hit at a .372 clip with 31 assists as No. 19 Kentucky moved to 1-0 entering a Saturday doubleheader against Butler and Virginia Tech.”I thought Morgan did a really nice job of finding the right people at the right time,” Skinner said. “Everybody got involved in the offense. Wichita State had a hard time knowing who she was going to set.”Anni Thomasson was the most likely candidate to finish off points. The sophomore had 13 kills and just two errors in hitting .440.”Anni’s just a great volleyball player,” Skinner said. “She figures out ways to score. When she can’t pound it straight down, she’s going to find a seam or a hole in the defense.”Not only does she find holes in the opposing defense, she also fills them in UK’s. Thomasson added 12 digs in what figures to be the first of many double-doubles for her this season. Thomasson was one of UK’s best players a season ago in receiving All-Southeastern Conference Freshman Team honors, but she appears poised to be even better in 2014.”No one outworks her,” Skinner said. “She just is a grinder and wants to be really good and never takes a day off. When you’re like that, it’s hard not to improve.”The Newark, Ohio, native is an outside hitter, a position sometimes occupied by offensive specialists, but Thomasson is as much of a contributor on defense. That’s a big reason why Skinner says this could be the best defensive team he’s coached.”There’s not a position that’s weak defensively,” Skinner said. “Typically you’ll have one, maybe two people that struggle defensively. I think we’re going to make it tough for people to score, but we gotta do it every day.”That means practice too, where more intense offense-defense battles are surely in store.