May 24, 1999
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The University of Kentucky Volleyball team entered the 1998 campaignlooking to improve from 1997 when they Wildcats finished 14-17 and 4-10 inthe SEC. With new Head Coach Jona Braden at the helm, the UK program wasabuzz with renewed excitement.
With two battle-tested seniors in middle blocker, Jenny Muzzey and outsidehitter, LaTanya Webb along with a solid junior class, the Wildcats shot outof the gates by winning ten of its first 13 matches.
UK opened the season on September 1, with a 3-0 victory over MoreheadState at Memorial Coliseum. The Cats then squared off againstAlabama-Birmingham in the “Mortar Board Purdue Premier Invitational” hostedby the Purdue Boilermakers and came away with a 3-1 victory over theBlazers. In round two, UK defeated Central Florida, 3-1, but fell to thehost Boilermakers, 3-0, later in the day to finish in second place. LaTanyaWebb and junior Katie Eiserman were named to the All-Tournament Team.
After a loss to Miami (Ohio), UK headed into the “Doubletree Guest SuitesClassic” hosted by Butler University and the Wildcats responded. UKdefeated Eastern Michigan, Kansas, and Butler to claim top team honors inthe tournament. LaTanya Webb was named the tournament MVP and JaclynHolman and Katie Eiserman were named to the All-Tournament Team. In theWildcats’ three games, Webb recorded 43 kills and 14 digs.
UK hosted the “Kentucky Conference Challenge,” September 18-19 at MemorialColiseum with Arkansas State, Clemson, and Southern Methodist rounding outthe four-team field. The Wildcats ran the table and defeated all threeteams while losing just two games during the tournament to capture thefirst-place trophy. UK’s Katie Eiserman and Jenny Muzzey were named to theAll-Tournament Team while junior setter Terri Crabb was named MVP of thetournament.
UK kicked off the Southeastern Conference portion of its schedule with a3-0 win over the LSU Tigers in Baton Rouge, La. Two days later, No. 16Arkansas soured UK with 3-0 victory over the visiting Wildcats.
The Wildcats got a chance to square off against the USA National Team inan exhibition match. The UK team came away with a heightened level ofconfidence and ready to jump back into SEC play.
In its next SEC showdown, UK outlasted Mississippi State in a longgrueling match, for a 3-1 victory. Senior Jenny Muzzey recorded 14 kills,five digs, and a season-high nine block assists to lead the Cats past theBulldogs. UK defeated Ole Miss, 3-1, on October 4 to complete a weekendsweep over the two, SEC schools from Mississippi. Against the Rebels,LaTanya Webb topped the 1,000 mark for kills in a career. Webb, is justthe eighth Wildcat to record over 1,000 kills and her 1,207 career killsranks fifth all-time in UK school history.
After a loss to SEC power Florida, the Wildcats won three out of theirnext four matches including a, 3-1 victory over South Carolina at MemorialColiseum and a pair of wins over Auburn and Alabama on the road.
UK and South Carolina battled through the four games (15-12, 15-13, 13-15,15-13) as senior Stephenie Taylor recorded 11 kills and seven block assiststo lead the Cats past the Gamecocks.
UK faced a series of solid opponents down the stretch as they droppedtheir final six regular season matches, four of which were on the road. Inthose six games, Tennessee, Georgia, No. 24 Louisville, and No. 5 Floridacompleted the two-match season sweep over the Wildcats.
The SEC Tournament in Fayetteville, Ark., loomed ahead for UK, as theWildcats took on the Bayou Bengals from LSU in the first round. JuniorKatie Eiserman amassed a career-high 32 kills and added 13 digs as the Catswent on to a 3-1 victory. LaTanya Webb added 22 kills to the UK cause.
With the win over LSU, UK advanced to the second-round to face No. 5Florida. The Cats were unable to get on track as the Gators went on todefeat UK for third time during the season, 3-1.
UK’s weekend sweep over Mississippi State (October 2) and Ole Miss(October 4) was the Wildcats’ first SEC weekend sweep since the 1996 seasonwhen UK defeated Arkansas and LSU at Memorial Coliseum. When UK sweptAuburn and Alabama three weeks later, it marked the first time that theWildcats swept two weekends of SEC play in the same season since 1995.
Jenny Muzzey moved into second place in the UK record book for blockassists in a career. Muzzey, a native of Smyrna, Tenn., finished hercareer with 380 block assists.
Katie Eiserman was a mainstay in the UK lineup this season, playing in 104games while she recorded 12 double/doubles on the year to lead the Cats.
In Jona Braden’s first-year as head coach of the Wildcat squad, UK endedthe season with 16-14 record and 7-9 in the SEC. This was UK’s firstwinning season since the 1993 campaign when the Cats advanced to thesemifinals of the SEC tournament and the second round of the NCAA tournament.
