Sept. 14, 2002
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The University of Kentucky volleyball team saw a five-match win streak come to an end after the Wildcats were swept by Dayton, 3-0, in the Kentucky Conference Challenge on Saturday, Sept. 14 in Lexington, Ky. The loss ended UK’s streak, which dates back to Sept. 7.
Kentucky played flat in the match, hitting just .091 on the day while totaling only four team blocks to Dayton’s .333 hitting and eight team blocks. Three Wildcats hit in the negative column, including setter Kristi Kelley and Sarah Spinner, who have both been reliable offensive weapons to this point in the season.
UK jumped out to an early 5-1 lead in game one before the Flyers tied it at seven. After another tie at 10, UD took control, busting out an 8-2 run to take a 17-12 lead and force a timeout. It was all Dayton from there as they dominated the rest of the game and capitalized on Kentucky errors to take the 30-22 win.
The Cats seemed to regroup for game two, building another early lead at 10-5. They maintained their distance for most of the game until Dayton began chipping away and used an 11-3 run to gain the match advantage with the 30-25 game-two win.
UK had one last chance to make its move in game three, and looked poised to do so after an early 8-3 lead. Leigh Marcum was inserted in the lineup replacing Kelley at setter and tallied a huge block assist to give the Cats a 10-4 edge. But UD seemed unstoppable, tying the game at 11 before taking the lead for good at 19-18. UK was able to get within two at 27-25 with a Kristen Batt kill, but couldn’t score again as the Flyers earned their sixth win of the year with the 30-25 decision.
Highlights for UK included a 10-kill, 10-dig performance by Batt and a .368 hitting percentage by Sissy Canfield. The Wildcats will close out tournament play against Western Michigan following the Dayton-Wake Forest match at 5 p.m.
