Volleyball Closes Homestand with Georgia, Missouri

Nov. 6, 2014

LEXINGTON, Ky. — The No. 17 Kentucky volleyball team concludes its four match homestand vs. Georgia on Nov. 7 at 7 p.m. and Missouri on Nov. 9 at Noon. Sunday’s match vs. the defending SEC champions will be broadcast live on the SEC Network.

Sunday’s contest vs. Mizzou will air on the SEC Network, with Paul Sunderland and Holly McPeak on the call. Both matches will also be broadcast on the SEC Network+, available to SEC Network subscribers on SECNetwork.com and Watch ESPN. Friday, Dave Baker and former UK coach and current AVCA President Kathy DeBoer will call the action. Additionally, fans can tune in to 1580 AM, with Dick Gabriel and Mandy Robbe, or follow along with live stats on UKathletics.com.

Kentucky (20-4, 9-2 Southeastern Conference) is coming off a sweep of Morehead State on Nov. 3. The win gave UK its fourth consecutive 20-win season and seventh in the last eight years, all under head coach Craig Skinner.

UK began the homestand with a 3-0 win over Tennessee, led by senior Lauren O’Conner’s 19 kills. The total, which earned the Taylor Mill, Ky., native her first career SEC Player of the Week honors, is a program record in a three-set match in the 25-point rally scoring era.

Georgia (11-12, 3-8 Southeastern Conference) is coming off a 3-2 win over Auburn on Nov. 2 after three consecutive losses. On Oct. 17, Kentucky downed UGA, 3-0, in Athens, Ga., to improve to 16-1 vs. the Bulldogs in the Skinner era and 37-25 all-time.

Missouri (14-12, 5-6 SEC) has lost three of its last four, including two to top-25 teams. The Tigers, who won both meetings vs. the Wildcats last year, are 2-3 all-time vs. Kentucky and open the weekend on Nov. 7 at Tennessee.

Click image for UK’s Match Notes (PDF)

SCOUTING GEORGIA

Georgia is 11-12 in 2014 and 3-8 in the SEC. On Nov. 3, the Bulldogs posted a 3-2 win over Auburn to end a three-match losing streak, two to top-25 competition. UGA’s conference wins have come to Missouri, Tennessee and Auburn, all at home. On Oct. 17, UK beat Georgia, 3-0 in Athens.

The Bulldogs are led by Le’au Tirah, who has 231 kills on .177 hitting with a team-high 253 digs and 28 service aces. Lauren Teknipp has added 211 kills with 85 digs and 65 blocks, while Desiree McCray leads the team with 108 total blocks in addition to having 148 kills. Kaylee Kehoe leads UGA with 701 digs.

UGA is coached by Lizzy Stemke, in her fourth season. Stemke owns a 58-57 record after leading the Bulldogs to their first NCAA Tournament since 2004 last season. An All-American and former U.S. National Team member, Stemke was as an assistant coach at Nebraska from 2007-10.

SERIES HISTORY VS. THE BULLDOGS

Kentucky leads the all-time series vs. Georgia 37-25 after a 3-0 win in Athens on Oct. 17. The Wildcats have won 16 of the last 17 contests in the series, all under Skinner, after their 15-match winning streak was snapped last season. UK is 16-10 all-time vs. the Bulldogs in Lexington.

In UK’s 3-0 win on Oct. 17, Kentucky was led by freshman Kaz Brown’s career-high eight kills on .667 hitting with zero errors and a team-high five blocks. Junior Sara Schwarzwalder was one of three Wildcats to record 10 or more kills, with 10 kills on a .769 hitting percentage

SCOUTING MISSOURI

Missouri enters the weekend with a 14-12 record and 5-6 in league action. The Tigers played their first ranked opponent of the season, No. 8 Florida, on Oct. 24, a 3-0 loss and are coming off a 3-1 defeat to No. 23 Texas A&M. Mizzou, the defending SEC champions, open the weekend at Tennessee on Friday.

The Tigers are led by Carly Kan’s 342 kills, while Emily Wilson has posted 259 kills and Whitney Little 201 on a team-high .392 hitting. Sarah Meister has 378 digs, followed by Kan’s 305, while Little leads Mizzou with 100 blocks. Loxley Keala has 567 assists and Ali Kreklow has 507 for Missouri while Emily Thater’s 20 service aces is a team best.

Mizzou is coached by Wayne Kreklow, in his 10th season in Columbia and 15th as a head coach. Kreklow has guided the Tigers to a 202-111 record, highlighted by a perfect regular season and the school’s first SEC title in 2013.

SERIES HISTORY VS. THE TIGERS

Kentucky leads the all-time series vs. Missouri, 3-2 after a pair of losses in 2013. The Wildcats won the first three meetings, including a 3-0 win in 2012, the Tigers’ first season in the SEC. In 2013, Mizzou claimed two 3-0 wins.

Last season, Kentucky suffered two 3-0 losses to Missouri. On Nov. 3 in Columbia, UK came back to tie the second set at 23 and got within two in the third set at 24-22, but were unable to complete the comeback for the upset victory. On. Nov. 24 at home, undefeated and fourth-ranked Missouri claimed a 3-0 (25-15, 25-20, 25-16) win.

UP NEXT: AT OLE MISS, VS. NO. 7 FLORIDA

UK travels to Ole Miss on Nov. 14 before it returns home to host No. 7 Florida on Nov. 16. The match will air live on the SEC Network from Memorial Coliseum and begin at Noon.

LAST TIME OUT: UK SWEEPS MOREHEAD STATE

Kentucky opened the week with a 3-0 (25-20, 25-13, 25-13) sweep of instate foe Morehead State on Monday. The Wildcats had 43 kills on .449 hitting, their highest since hitting .522 in a win at Lipscomb in 2013. The offensive attack was bolstered by a .619 percentage with no errors in the final set. Senior Lauren O’Conner led UK with 11 kills on a career-high .611 attacking clip. The Taylor Mill native did not commit a hitting error in the match and had four kills on .800 hitting in the third set.

2014 RECORD BREAKERS AND MILESTONE WATCH

• Now with 222 career wins, head coach Craig Skinner became UK’s all-time winningest coach with his 210th victory Sept. 13.
• Kentucky has recorded 20 or more wins in each of the last four seasons and seven of the last eight. UK has also notched 17 or more victories in all 10 seasons under Skinner – the longest streak in program history. Before Skinner arrived in 2005, Kentucky hadn’t won more than 16 games since 1993.
• UK has been ranked for 28 consecutive weeks, the second-longest stretch in team history.
• Senior Lauren O’Conner had back-to-back 19-kill matches, including in a 3-0 win vs. Tennessee on Oct. 29, marking a program record for kills in a three-set match in the 25-point rally scoring era.
• Sophomore Anni Thomasson recorded double-doubles in three consecutive matches from Oct. 19-26, the first Wildcat to post more than two double-doubles in a row since Whitney Billings had four to open the 2013 season.
• In UK’s win at Louisville, its first at U of L since 1993, junior Shelby Workman exploded for a career-high 21 kills, including 13 in the third set, a program record for kills in a set in the modern era.
• Senior Lauren O’Conner, who leads all current SEC players with 1,104 kills, became the 15th Wildcat to notch 1,000 career kills on Oct. 5 vs. Texas A&M and is second in program history in the rally scoring era.
• Senior Jackie Napper joined the 1,000th career dig club on Aug. 30. Now with 1,361 digs, she is second in the UK record books in the rally scoring era and fourth in the all-time top 10. Her 382 through 24 matches in 2014 is seventh in a single season in the rally scoring era.
• Junior Morgan Bergren is third all-time in the rally scoring era and 10th in UK history with 2,319 career assists. In the single season record books, Bergren’s 956 assists in 2014 is seventh in the modern era. Her career-high 55 assists at Louisville is a program record in the modern era in a four-set match, along with UK’s 64 total assists in the contest.
• Junior Sara Schwarzwalder’s 11 block assists on Oct. 12 were a program record in a three-set match in the 25-point rally scoring era, while her 11 total blocks, and UK’s total of 26 block assists in the match, tie a modern-era record in a three-set match. Schwarzwalder’s 243 career block assists and 259 total blocks are fifth and sixth, respectively in UK history in the 25-point rally scoring era.

Visit UKathletics.com for the most up-to-date information on the Kentucky volleyball team and all 22 varsity sports. For additional info on the volleyball team like Kentucky Volleyball on Facebook or follow the team on Twitter at @KentuckyVB.