There just isn’t much that UK’s group of three seniors hasn’t been through on a volleyball court.Together, outside hitter Ann Armes and middle blockers Gretchen Giesler and Becky Pavan have been a part of extending the school’s string of consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances to six. They’ve enjoyed the high of a berth in the Sweet 16 in 2009. They have endured the agony of falling just short in a quest for an SEC regular season championship. Armes, Giesler and Pavan are more than prepared to take those experiences and apply them as they are turned to as team leaders. It’s a role they relish as they seek to leave a lasting mark on the program in their final season.”It definitely helps having experienced everything,” Pavan said. “Being there before, you know what to do to get there. Having lost it, you have the drive to get there and go all the way through. It’s really hard to go through the lows, but in the end they make you become a stronger leader, a stronger player and stronger person. I think that they’re really going to help us go through the next level.”Head coach Craig Skinner has been right there alongside his seniors all along. He knows all the ups and downs they’ve negotiated and knows they won’t come upon anything they don’t know how to handle.”These seniors have been through a lot,” Skinner said, “great wins and tough losses and everything in between, so there’s not an experience that they haven’t had to help lead our team through.” Over a week into fall practices, that sort of background will help the team remain level-headed in the face of both good times and adversity once the season starts on Aug. 26 against Albany in the Florida State Tournament.”I think it allows us to not really get caught up in the emotions and get too high or low,” Skinner said. “We can keep a more consistent demeanor in practice or in games. If you can slow games down and focus on each individual point then you can absolutely perform at a higher level. That leadership is invaluable and something we will have to rely on throughout the year.”The most heart-breaking moment that the group has shared came in 2009. Playing Tennessee in the finale of the regular season with a chance to earn a share of the SEC regular season title, the Wildcats rallied from a 2-0 deficit to force a deciding fifth set. Leading 14-10 in the fifth, UK allowed the Volunteers to score six straight points for the win. Though painful, Skinner knows that such moments can be very powerful.”You learn a lot when you lose, when you win everyone feels good and you just move on,” Skinner said. “When you lose you have to evaluate what you are doing as an individual and as a team. In the tough loss situations you have to bring out the things we don’t do well and improve on them.”In fact, UK used the Tennessee loss as a springboard that very post-season. In the NCAA Tournament, the Wildcats hosted first and second round games in Lexington. Skinner’s bunch defeated Michigan State, then the tournament’s No. 14 overall seed Oregon to earn the program’s first Sweet 16 trip since 1992.More than any difficult loss or exciting win, though, the three seniors have experienced something a bit harder to pin down: what it means to be a Kentucky Wildcat. From day one, the trio has fully embraced being a part of Skinner’s program.”They are three individuals that immediately bought into our program, our coaching staff and whatever changes have been made,” Skinner said. “When you have people like that that are really selfless and realize the program is a lot bigger than just us it really filters to everyone involved with the team.”Perhaps the most important aspect of Skinner’s philosophy is the concept that the choice to attend Kentucky makes you a Wildcat for the rest of your life, not just the next four years.”We talk about that a lot with recruiting, going to UK is not just a college decision it is a life decision,” Skinner said. “The people, the university, our fans have a lot of pride and they feel a sense of ownership in our athletes and the program as well. When they leave the program they still want to be involved.”Now that Armes, Giesler and Pavan are in their final season, they know that they are called on to play a vital role in building the foundation for the next chapter of UK volleyball.”Even after you leave, you’re always going to be part of this program,” Pavan said. “What you’ve done, how you’ve affected the players under you is going to continue like a ripple effect. The way you help the younger players develop will play a huge role in how they affect the next generation.”The senior trio is a perfect example of that ripple effect in that they prepared for their current role by watching and learning from departed teammates like Blair Hiler and Lauren Rapp. Pavan, a preseason All-SEC honoree, is the most decorated of the three, but she lauds how Armes and Giesler set the tone for the rest of the team on and off the court.”I love my group of three, of course,” Pavan said. “Ann, she’s here for her fifth year now and she’s been through so much. She’s worked so hard. Gretchen is such a hard worker and they’re both people you can always turn to no matter what’s happening. On the court, you can turn to them to get a big kill. Off the court, you can go to them if you need someone to talk to. I think it’s really important for the seniors to be in that role, being someone for the younger players to look up to and confide in.”Armes, Giesler and Pavan have taken ownership of the program, which makes the fact that UK was chosen to host the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight this season very special for them.”We’ve proven ourselves to be a top program for a few years now,” Pavan said. “It means a lot for our athletic department as a whole because we’ve done such a great job hosting the first few rounds. The city in general (and) our fans are so great, so they want to have that kind of environment for the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight because it’s such a big deal. Being able to host it is a reflection of how our team has been doing.”The support of local volleyball fans is a big reason why Lexington earned the right to host. Armes, a Grand Island, Neb. native, comes from a volleyball hotbed and has seen UK develop into a power that she now happily compares to Nebraska when she talks to friends still playing there.”(I came) from Nebraska to a program that had 88 people in the (stands) when I came on my visit as a junior,” Armes said. “At Nebraska, they sell out with 4,000 (fans) every time. That aspect alone of coming from the bottom to now we’re contending for the top spot in the conference it’s really great. It’s really cool to talk to my friends back in Nebraska who are still playing and compare programs and how similar they are.”Like Armes, Giesler and Pavan all came to UK from out of state, but have found a second home in the Bluegrass. It’s difficult to imagine a better way for the three to close out their careers than playing deep into the NCAA Tournament in front of their adopted hometown fans.”Kentucky is my home now,” Pavan said. “It has become a home away from home. Our fans have embraced me, being so far away home. It’s just such a great place to be and it would mean the world to be in Lexington playing in the Sweet 16 with all the people that I’ve come to love in the city that I’ve come to love.”