No. 2 Kentucky Opens NCAA Tournament in Omaha on Thursday
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The No. 2 seeded Kentucky Volleyball team begins its postseason run Thursday night in Omaha, Nebraska as the 2020-21 NCAA Volleyball Tournament commences in the CHI Health Center bubble. Kentucky will play the winner of Wednesday night’s match between UNLV and Illinois State.
The match will start at 7 p.m. ET/6 p.m. CT and streamed live on ESPN3 and the ESPN app with Tyler Denning on the call. Fans who have questions about how to access ESPN3 can get their questions answered here. ESPN3 links can be found on the same ESPN landing page as the SEC Network+ for fans that used that all season long to watch Kentucky Volleyball matches. ESPN.com/watch is the easiest way to access the match.
All matches of the NCAA Tournament are being held in the NCAA’s “Omaha Bubble” due to the ongoing COVID-19 circumstances, with the First & Second Rounds and Sweet 16 taking place in the CHI Health Convention Center before moving into the main CHI Health Arena floor for the Elite Eight, Final Four and national championship match on April 24.
UK is the No. 2 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament, and earned a first-round bye in the championship, as did the 16 seeded teams in the field. Kentucky is automatically placed into the round of 32, and will be playing Thursday night for a spot in the Sweet 16.
Kentucky is 6-4 in the round of 32 under head coach Craig Skinner, who will be leading Kentucky in his 16th-straight NCAA Tournament. Skinner was named the Southeastern Conference’s Coach of the Year on April 4 and on Tuesday morning was announced as the American Volleyball Coaches’ Association Southeast Region Coach of the Year for the fourth time in his career.
Illinois State and UNLV will play on Wednesday night at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN3 for the right to play Kentucky. UNLV is undefeated at 12-0 on the season, and won the automatic qualifying spot out of the Mountain West Conference. Illinois State is 16-5 this season with and 11-3 record in Missouri Valley play. The Redbirds were the MVC’s automatic qualifier by winning the conference for the second-straight season.
Follow along with the Wildcats on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, and on the web at UKathletics.com.
