Oct. 27, 2002
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The University of Kentucky volleyball team dropped an exciting Southeastern Conference match with No. 3 Florida on Friday, Oct. 25 in Memorial Coliseum. The Cats fell 30-21, 30-20 and 30-21 to drop to 8-12 on the season, 2-7 in SEC play.
UK opened the match by taking the first point, but Florida was able to work to a 10-7 lead. The Cats cut it to one at 12-11, and then took the lead at 17-16 before UF tied it again. Another Kentucky lead was squashed when the Gators tied it again at 18 before pulling away to the 30-21 decision. UK hit just .051 to UF’s .419 in the game.
Game two began with a Florida kill to give the Gators a 1-0 lead. With the score tied at 4-4, the Gators went on a 3-0 run to open a 7-4 lead. Kentucky quickly answered, however, scoring three straight points to knot the game at 7-7. Florida would stretch the lead to five at 20-15, before a 7-1 Gator lead put UK out of the picture.
Kentucky played well to open game three, using a 3-0 run to take an early 3-1 lead. After Florida tied it at four, the Gators used an 11-2 run to take a 15-6 advantage. UF was able to stretch the lead to 15 at 27-12. The Cats held the Gators at match point for six consecutive plays, with UF finally closing out the game and match with the 30-21 win.
Sarah Spinner led Kentucky with 12 kills, while Toni Lee had a season-high 11 digs. Setter Leigh Marcum led UK in accuracy connecting on two of three attacks with no errors for a .667 mark.
Kentucky returns to action on Sunday, Oct. 27, when it plays host to Georgia at 2 p.m. in Memorial Coliseum.
