Sept. 4, 1999
The Wildcats left Blacksburg, Va. Saturday night with three big W’s, but to theCats it felt more like four when injured starter Stephenie Taylor returned tothe bench for the team’s Saturday morning match after spending Friday night inthe hospital. Everyone in attendance at Cassell Coliseum on Friday nightreceived a tremendous scare when Taylor collapsed to the floor in the fourthgame of Kentucky’s match against host Virginia Tech.
Citing a strong pain in her lower back, Taylor reportedly lost sensation in herlegs while she lied motionless on the court for 25 minutes before beingimmobilized and taken to a local hospital for treatment. At the hospital shereported having regained feeling in her legs and was listed in good condition.Taylor spent the night in the hospital for observation, but was released intime to see the Wildcats notch three victories on Saturday. At the time ofTaylor’s injury, UK was leading the match 2-1 and game four 11-7.
The match was resumed from that point and in an impressive display ofcomposure, the Wildcats made short work of the Hokies to conclude the fourthgame, 15-11, for the 3-1 victory.
Prior to being forced from the lineup, Taylor was having a great nightdefensively with 10 digs. Senior Katie Eiserman played an overall dominant gamefor the Cats leading the team with 13 kills/12 digs for the team’s firstdouble-double of the season.
In the morning match, the Wildcats battled hard for four games and beat ascrappy Northern Illinois team 3-1. UK dropped the first game 12-15, butstormed back to sweep the final three 15-9, 18-16 and 15-12. Freshman sensationKristen Batt recorded her first career double-double with a team-high 20 killsto go with 14 digs. Homan and Eiserman also achieved double-doubles with 12kills/10 digs and 17 kills/16 digs, respectively. Homan recorded a season-high.480 hitting percentage with no hitting errors.
UK closed out its Saturday sweep with a 3-0 shutout of Villanova in the battleof the Wildcats. The Lexington-based Cats shot out of the gates and neverlooked back, winning the match 15-3, 15-3 and 15-5. Kentucky played a nearlyflawless game against ?Nova as UK hit with an accuracy and efficiency that theyhad not displayed all season. UK hit at an incredible .493 clip and of the 11players who saw action, not one had a negative hitting percentage. Efficiencywas the name of the game as Megan Weiskircher led the way with 11 kills on 18attempts (.556). Eiserman had her most effective offensive game of the seasonwith nine kills and only one hitting error. Melissa Kracht was the mosteffective attacker for UK with five kills on six attempts (.833).
Even with the fear stemming from the Taylor incident, it was agroundbreaking weekend for the UK volleyball team.
“I was really impressed to see so much fight in our players anddetermination to win through such adversity,” said coach Jona Braden. “We lostStephenie in a terrible way and had hitters out of rhythm, but he keptattacking and got the job done. Our players really revealed a lot aboutthemselves this weekend.”
The Wildcats return to Lexington with a 4-0 mark on the season and return toaction next Friday at the Big Orange Bash in Clemson, S.C. when they play thehost Clemson Tigers.
