Last week, the Kentucky volleyball team was not exactly long on self-assurance. The Wildcats had just suffered a disheartening sweep at the hands of the visiting Cincinnati Bearcats and it wasn’t pretty. UK fell to 2-2 on the young season with another four matches to be played over the following week.Any number of adjectives can be used to describe the loss, but it was nothing if not attention-getting.Craig Skinner’s team was not willing to let it happen again in the Kentucky Classic. Playing three matches in two days on their home floor, the Wildcats rebounded with three wins after a few solid days of practice.”I’m excited for them and I’m happy we responded in the way we did,” Skinner said. “We needed to. We certainly couldn’t have gone down the path we were going, performing the way we did against Cincinnati. We had to fix a couple things and our team has never come into the gym not wanting to get better.”The work was evident. UK swept through three straight matches against Western Kentucky, Ohio and Virginia Tech en route to a tournament title. Heading into a matchup with rival Louisville on Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. in Memorial Coliseum, the hardware was nice, but the confidence the Wildcats reestablished in claiming the title was much more important.”We were down after Cincinnati and I think we realized we can’t play at a mediocre speed,” junior libero Stephanie Klefot said. “When we started playing well against Western we saw how good we can be and our confidence shot up from there.”When Klefot talked about her team’s performance against Cincinnati, the reigning SEC Defensive Player of the Week did not mince words.”We knew that we shouldn’t play at that level and we were embarrassed,” Klefot said. “It was an embarrassing match and we decided we don’t want to embarrass ourselves. We know what we’re capable of and we showed that this weekend.”Coaches often say they prefer to teach from wins rather than losses, but Skinner recognizes that the sense of urgency that comes out of a performance like the one last week can’t be duplicated.”I don’t know if you want to call it necessary, but you certainly learn a lot more about yourselves in situations like that than if you cruise through every win,” Skinner said. “Having an experience like that was motivating to the staff and the players and hopefully we continue to learn from it and never take anything for granted.”Skinner credited the Wildcat upperclassmen for their role in the improvement of last weekend. Seniors Becky Pavan, Gretchen Giesler and Ann Armes have been around the program for a long time and have evolved into coaches on the floor.”I would say that our core group of upperclassmen made a difference,” Skinner said. “They have been here for a while and they understand what it takes to be successful. They weren’t going to give at all and they proved that last week. I give credit to all the upperclassmen and we’re going to need that from them all year.”Recently, Klefot has joined Pavan, Giesler and Armes in sharing that leadership role. Skinner said that her confidence and ability to focus on the point at hand has allowed her to step forward.”I think she really believes in herself and trusts herself,” Skinner said. “She doesn’t have to think too much, she just plays the game. When you have that type of ability and confidence to shed bad plays off and move on to the next one, you’re always conscious of the point you’re on and you’re able to play at a higher level.”From the moment she set foot on campus, Klefot has been a solid performer. She earned All-Freshman team honors in the SEC in 2009 before winning SEC Libero of the Year as a sophomore. In spite of her success on the floor, leadership doesn’t come naturally for Klefot.”It’s a little scary,” Klefot said. “I’m a little shy and so calling people out and saying things to people has been different for me. I came from a club that is very vocal, but I’ve never been the vocal one. Taking that step, I had to have a push from the team.”Klefot has always been a model teammate, but it has taken a bit of coercing from her teammates to mold her into the leader she has become.”She’s an exceptional player and a competitor and a great teammate too,” Skinner said. “I think our team really responds to her and wants her to be vocal and energetic and do the things that she does. She makes spectacular plays and that motivates people around her.”Klefot will have a little extra reason to be vocal when she takes the floor on Wednesday. She is a Louisville, Ky., native with plenty of ties to Cardinal coaches and players. She played high school volleyball for Assumption and Anne Kordes is the daughter of her coach, Ron Kordes.”It means a little more to me than other people,” Klefot said. “It’s a big rivalry game and everyone’s excited to play. There is going to be a lot of people here with their new coach and we have a lot more fans coming this year. I think we’re ready to show everyone this year that we can beat them and we can play as well as any team in the nation.”While some coaches might try to downplay a rivalry match like this one as just another regular season match, Skinner knows that it creates an opportunity to help Lexington’s burgeoning volleyball scene continue its pattern of growth.”We need matches like this,” Skinner said. “The volleyball community in Lexington has grown leaps and bounds the last six years and still has a lot of growth ahead of it. Games like this in the Coliseum against a quality opponent like Louisville can only add to it. I really hope our fans come out like they usually do and even build on it. I think it will be about as exciting a volleyball match as you will see in the country.”Skinner has seen volleyball in Lexington grow exponentially in his six years at UK. He estimated that two to three times more middle schools have volleyball programs compared with 2005 and attendees at UK’s summer camps have gone from 60 to more than 1,000.Klefot appreciates the big picture impact of the series against Louisville, but she’s much more worried about the match itself. She says that the two teams may come out on edge to begin with, but expects a highly competitive match.”I think it’s going to be a little rough in the beginning and nerves are going to be flying,” Klefot said. “After it settles down I think it’s going to be a great competition.”