Senior outside hitter Danielle Wallace posted a team-high 19 kills on .351 hitting Tuesday as Kentucky swept in-state foe Morehead State, 3-0 (30-15, 35-33, 30-27) in Memorial Coliseum. The Cats improve to 5-2 with the victory, while the Eagles drop to 4-7.
Wallace led the Wildcats in kills for the sixth time this season while freshman Ashlee Fisher and Queen Nzenwa added seven kills apiece. Freshman setter Tess Edwards, in her first collegiate start, posted a season-high 36 assists. Libero Jenni Casper led the defensive effort with a team-high 11 digs.
Kentucky quickly jumped out to a 4-1 lead in game one after a pair of errors by Morehead State and a kill by outside hitter Julie Gagnon. The Eagles ran off two consecutive points after two Cats errors, but Kentucky went on an 8-2 run capped off by an Nzenwa kill to take a 12-5 advantage and force Morehead State to burn an early timeout.
A kill by Wallace and a block by Kaplan and Edwards on the ensuing play extended UK?s advantage to 19-8 going into another MSU timeout. Out of the break, the Wildcats scored seven of the game?s next nine points to go ahead 26-10 and the Wildcats went on to win the opening frame, 30-15.
The two teams battled evenly to begin game two with ties at every point, until the Wildcats took a 7-5 lead on a kill by Nzenwa and an attack error on the Eagles. Several Kentucky errors let Morehead State back in the game trailing 9-8. A block solo by Kelsey Cronin and a service ace by Laura Cox put Morehead State ahead 15-13 forcing UK Coach Craig Skinner to burn a timeout.
Kentucky tied the score at 15, but an MSU kill coupled with an error by the Cats gave the Eagles a 17-15 lead. Morehead State extended its advantage to 21-16 on a block by Katelyn Barbour and Diana Zipp. The Eagles pulled ahead 28-21 but the Wildcats came storming back with a 5-0 run capped off by a kill by Wallace. The two teams were tied at every turn, but an emphatic kill by Fisher and an attack error by MSU gave the Cats the 35-33 victory in game two.
Gagnon ran off three consecutive service points beginning with a powerful block by Edwards and Nzenwa to begin the third frame. The Wildcats held a slim lead throughout the early part of the game with the Eagles coming within two points several times in the frame. A put-down by Ashley Doscher brought the Eagles within one, 13-12, before Morehead State tied the match at 14. After four more ties, a kill by Gagnon broke a 25-all deadlock to put the Cats up 26-25. Back-to-back errors by the Eagles brought UK to game point at 29-26 heading into a Morehead timeout. The Wildcats went on to win 30-27.
Kentucky returns to action Friday as it travels to Evanston, Ill., to compete in the Northwestern Tournament. The Wildcats open tournament play by facing Brown at 6 p.m. Friday. Live stats will be available on ukathletics.com.
