'Efficient' Cats Dominate Home Opener

On Friday night inside Historic Memorial Coliseum, the Kentucky volleyball program unveiled it’s 2025 NCAA Tournament runner-up banner prior to sweeping Utah State. And while that could have served as a distraction, the Cats did not let the celebration affect their play.

Middle blocker Lizzie Carr, who had nine kills and hit .583 in the match, knew that it was important to move past the banner ceremony and focus on the task at hand.

“We didn’t know a lot about Utah State, they hadn’t played a match yet,” Carr said. “We were just really focused on what was going to go on on our side. We were able to focus on what we were going to do. We knew we had to play our best to be able to show up.”

In fact, Kentucky dominated the first set, winning the frame 25-13. It was every bit as dominant as the score would indicate. UK had 16 kills and zero errors on 23 swings (,696 hitting percentage). Even more impressive was Kentucky’s 100 percent side out percentage. That means that every time Utah State served, UK won the point.

That perfect side out percentage carried over into the second set, finally ending at 18-9 in that second stanza. UK head coach Craig Skinner was not sure he had ever seen that happen before.

“No, I don’t think I have,” he said. “That was pretty impressive.”

For the match, Kentucky’s side out percentage was a sparkling 80.4 percent.

Skinner was impressed with his team’s play on Friday night.

“Just very efficient the first set and a half,” Skinner said. “We sided out at 100 percent until (late in) the second set. That’s very hard to do in practice or against any team. So, pleased with that. When we needed a run and needed a serving pressure by one of our players, they did a good job of going back and making sure it was happening.”

Kentucky jumped ahead early and never looked back. Junior Morgan Gaerte, who had seven kills and hit .500 on Friday, was asked after the match how the team stays focused with a big lead.

“I think it’s just playing for one another, playing for our team,” Gaerte said. “I think when we’re in control, just continue to stay focused and have fun and still be competitive out there.”

The Cats celebrated last year’s accomplishment before Friday’s match, but they did not let the celebration ruin their focus once the match started.