Big Blue square off against Big Orange

(Nov. 9, 2000) — The Universities of Kentucky and Tennessee will play the first of a home-and-home volleyball series Friday, November 10, when the Wildcats travel to Knoxville for a Southeastern Conference tussle with the Lady Vols at 7 p.m. at the Stokely Athletics Center.

Both squads are coming off losses last weekend to South Carolina. UK (4-19, 2-10 SEC) lost in four games to the Gamecocks while UT (20-6, 8-4 SEC) was swept by USC.

With conference play ending this weekend, the Cats are looking to close out their SEC schedule with two victories over the Big Orange.

“We want to close out the conference season on a positive note,” UK coach Jona Braden said. “For the most part, we played very well in our last match and we will look to build on that performance going into this weekend.”

UK’s Whitney Sample needs only six assists against Tennessee to surpass the 2,000 career assist milestone. The junior setter has recorded 882 helpers this season and currently ranks fourth in SEC play with 11.53 assists per game.

Megan Weiskircher and Kristen Batt will likely be the focal point of the Big Blue’s offense. Both posted double-doubles in UK’s most recent match. Then tandem ranks first and second on the team in kills and digs combining for 587 kills and 403 digs.

Tennessee’s offensive attack is led by Erica Lear and Ariana Wilson. Lear is the conference leader in assists with13.77 per game and Wilson is second in SEC with 4.56 kills per game.

“Tennessee is a very talented team that does not make many mistakes,” UK outside hitter Kristen Batt said. Their setter (Lear) does a great job of keeping the ball moving and they have good hitters who can put the ball away.”

The Big Blue and the Big Orange split last year’s matches with each team winning on its’ home court. UK leads the overall series 34-12.