It gets no bigger than this.Facing off against archrival Tennessee with a chance to earn a share of the Southeastern Conference title and the conference’s automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament, Wednesday’s match between the No. 16 Wildcats and No. 13 Lady Volunteers is being treated by both schools as a championship game. UK will be looking for its first SEC title since 1989 while UT will seek to avenge an October loss at the hands of the Wildcats.So, the 7 p.m. match in Knoxville, Tenn., figures to be the most pressure-packed of the season, right? According to head coach Craig Skinner, not so much.”It’s almost like the pressure is over and now it’s about performing for us and Tennessee,” Skinner said. “They are in first place and we’re trying to get to the point where they are. They’ve been playing awfully well. It will be a great match, a tough match but I think it’s about executing and rising up to the challenge.”Ever since UK lost a match at Mississippi State on Oct. 14, the Wildcats have been looking up at the Lady Volunteers in the standings, knowing they would likely have to string together nine straight wins just to stay in the hunt. In attempting to do that, Skinner concedes UK felt the heat. “We’ve been through almost every pressure from Mississippi State until now,” Skinner said. “We really had to win every match as long as Tennessee kept winning and we’ve been in several different situations in almost a do-or-die match each time out.”However, now that they’ve accomplished their goal and turned this week’s match into the biggest of the conference season, all that washes away. In its place is a sense of pure anticipation.”We’ve talked about it at the beginning of the year and we started talking about it a few weeks ago,” Skinner said. “It’s here and I think our team can’t wait to get going.”Making it a bit easier to take that approach is the fact that both teams know they will be playing beyond Wednesday’s regular season finale. Instead of having to worry about resume wins or being on the bubble, they can simply focus on the positives of what a win would mean.”This match doesn’t really mean a whole lot in terms of NCAA Tournament,” Skinner said. “We’re both going to be in it. We both have a chance to be seeded and I don’t think that will affect it either way a whole lot in terms of our RPI. It’s more about trying to win a championship.”Just because the pressure is off doesn’t mean beating the Lady Vols will be easy. Skinner said Tennessee is playing as well offensively as any team in the country, even better than they were when the Wildcats defeated them in five sets on Oct. 12. Back then, the two teams had an idea how big the rematch could be.”They know what it takes, we have to play well and they have to play well,” Skinner said. “It’s going to be a tall order for both teams and they’re promoting it as a championship. I think the good thing is we’ve been preparing for it and they’ve been preparing for it so it’s not a surprise.” The surprise would be if this match doesn’t turn out to be extremely competitive. The Cats and Lady Vols played to a near draw in October and appear to be even in nearly every statistical category. A five-set match seems a likelihood, which the Cats would welcome. UK sports a perfect 6-0 record in matches that go the distance, with three of those wins coming in the Cats’ last six outings.Skinner has every reason to be confident in his team in such a scenario, but that doesn’t mean it’s not stressful. The abbreviated nature of fifth sets reduces margin for error and makes every point that much more important.”You get to the fifth game and it’s 15 points and it’s over in 10 minutes,” Skinner said. “You prepare all season long and you prepare all week long to get to matches and then it (comes down) to 10 minutes of execution.” He can’t pinpoint just a single reason for his team’s success in five setters, but he does know the Cats resilience and focus play a big role.”I think the one thing this team does understand is they know they can only get one point at a time and they know you have to be patient you can’t just jump out to a lead and hold onto it,” Skinner said. “I think they have a blue-collar, grind-it-out mentality and you need that in game five because the excitement, the pressures all add up.”A comfort level with his team’s mentality as well as its preparation in practice has allowed Skinner to take a step back and hand the reins over to his players in some small measure.”I’ve been calmer this year than I have in the past mostly because we’ve prepared really well in practice and it’s more about letting them play and letting them do their thing,” Skinner said. “You can’t over coach too much in game five because it’s so much reaction, so much instinct.”The Wildcats also seem to possess a certain laid-back quality that allows them to slough off the anxiety normally associated with fifth sets. There have been times during the season when Skinner has watched his team laughing and joking during practice or a match and worried about their focus, but he’s long since realized they’ll always be ready to go when it’s time.”They always seem to know when it’s time to go, when it’s time to step in between the lines and make things happen,” Skinner said. “I’ve never thought going into a match that this team wouldn’t be ready to play. They could be joking around and I don’t think they’re focused at all in practice or they could be serious and it probably won’t impact how I think they’re going to be ready at 7 o’clock tomorrow night.”