April 16, 2002
EVANSTON, Ill. – The University of Kentucky volleyball team closed its 2002 spring exhibition season on Saturday, April 13 at the Northwestern Spring Challenge in Evanston, Ill. The Wildcats finished the tournament with a 6-4 record, which included sweeps of Valparaiso and Bowling Green.
The Wildcats played two 30-point games against each opponent in the pool play tournament. The Cats split with host Northwestern and Western Michigan and dropped two to Wisconsin-Milwaukee. The highlight of the day for UK was a thrilling come-from-behind 39-37 win over Northwestern in the first of the team’s two games.
“I am very pleased with the entire spring season and what has played out in each competitive weekend and each week of practice,” Coach Jona Braden said. “The accurate assessment of how meaningful the 2002 spring process has been will be made when the team reports back to preseason next fall. What happens between now and then for each player will reflect the true depth in the growth of this team.”
The performance concludes the Cats’ exhibition season. The team breaks for summer and returns for preseason conditioning in early August. Fans will have their first chance to see the 2002 edition of the Wildcats at the Blue/White Scrimmage on Saturday, August 24. The complete 2002 schedule will be released later this week.
Coach Jona Braden’s thoughts:
On the Northwestern tournament…
“Collectively, the weekend of competition proved to be a culmination of contrasts in how we responded to the variety of offensive and defensive challenges. We came into the weekend with a high level of anticipation and belief in the overall growth each player has demonstrated through out the spring. Facing five different teams for two 30-point games gave us a snapshot of where we are and where we are going.”
On how the tournament summed up the spring season…
“The momentum swings that came our way were directly related to the disciplined execution of our defensive performance, blocking and digging exhibited a more fearless intensity, the ball control showed more consistency in our precision and learning how to positively capitalize on out-of-system results has given us a solid barometer for what is forming inside this group. The players came together with a unified mind set starting back in January and lived out this plan each and every day of training. The tournament at Northwestern gave us an opportunity to put the finishing touches of growth and maturity to an already solid spring.”
On the work of the setters…
“The setters took care of business in becoming more acquainted with how to manage a team when things are rocking along with productivity or stalling to an idle. They were also learning how their mental toughness and intensity will directly correlate in how capable they are at pulling and pushing their team forward by taking it one point at a time.”
On the play of the middle blockers…
“The middles found out more deeply how directly related their performance is in establishing themselves defensively and offensively from start to finish. They are becoming more aware that the result of their performance is played out by the stick-to-itiveness in their determination, work ethic and emotional engagement.”
On the outside hitters…
“The outsides matured from a defensive expectation, realizing more fully and completely how their offensive game is relative to the depth of their defensive execution. Each player has shown growth in their development and will continue to become more capable in finishing every attack with confidence, patience and precision.”
On the defensive specialists…
“The contributions made by our defensive specialist/libero to the team’s performance all spring can be explained by the following: decisive, under girding, tough, high-energy, competitive, precise and intense.”
