The Kentucky volleyball team fell, 3-0, to the Tennessee Lady Vols in Stokely Athletics Center Friday night. The Wildcats totaled 14 service errors in a match in which they came up just 14 points short (23-30, 34-36, 25-30).
Kentucky (12-7, 5-4 SEC) was led by Danielle Wallace with 15 kills on .237 hitting, while Ashlee Fisher added 10 kills. Jenni Casper had 13 digs and Julie Gagnon added 11, while setter Leigh Marcum totaled 40 assists, nine digs and four kills on the night. Amy Kaplan was UK?s top blocker with four stops.
?I have to give credit to Tennessee?s middles (blockers),? UK Coach Craig Skinner said. ?If you can hold three of their starters to an attack percentage under .100, we should come out on top. Kentucky wasn?t tough enough to do that tonight.?
After falling behind 4-2 early in the first game, Kentucky rallied to pull ahead 5-4 on an ace from Pierce. UT tied the score again at seven before going up 10-7 and force a UK timeout. The Wildcats were able to cut the advantage to one at 15-14, but attack errors kept the Cats from closing the gap as UT pulled out to a 23-19 lead. The Wildcats were unable to overcome the deficit, falling 30-23. UK hit just .083 in the first game to UT?s .316.
The Wildcats rebounded to take a commanding 7-2 lead in the second game. Despite numerous threats from the Lady Vols, Kentucky controlled the pace for much of the game and forced a UT timeout with an 18-13 lead. The Vols came back strong, taking the next three points to cut the lead to two, 18-16, and force a Wildcat trip to the bench.
After another UT kill, Kentucky stopped the bleeding with back-to-back kills to lead 20-17. Tennessee finally managed to even the score at 26 after a Fisher attack error. Kentucky later went on game point at 29-27, but allowed the Vols to even the score at 29 after two consecutive Wildcat errors.
Five more ties ensued late in the game before Kristen Andre sent a kill down the line to put UT up 35-34. Kentucky?s bench pleaded for an out-of-bounds call, but were forced to defend game point again. This time, however, UK could not rebound as an Nzenwa shot was stopped by Andre to end the game in a 36-34 Tennessee victory. UK hit .250 to UT?s .125 in the game as Wallace landed five kills in the game.
The Wildcats rattled off a 5-2 lead early in the third game, and seemed to be in control later in the game, leading 17-14. Tennessee tied the score at 17, 18 and 19 before going ahead 21-19. The Wildcats fell behind 24-20 on a Casper serving error. UK managed to trim the lead to two at 26-24 on a kill from Pierce, but could never bridge the gap, falling 30-25.
Kentucky continues its road trip, traveling to Columbia, S.C., to take on the South Carolina Gamecocks on Sunday, Oct. 23. Opening serve is set for 1:30 p.m. and live stats will be available on ukathletics.com.
