TUSCALOOSA, Ala. ? The University of Kentucky volleyball team snapped its three-match winning streak tonight, Oct. 13, with a 3-0 (30-26, 30-20, 31-29) loss at Alabama (12-6, 7-2 Southeastern Conference). The Wildcats fall to 12-6 and even their league record at 5-5 with the loss.
For the second straight match, Kentucky was led by sophomore Ashlee Fisher who had a team-high 15 kills on .324 hitting. Junior middle blocker Nicole Britenriker added her team-leading eighth double-double in the loss with 10 kills to go along with a team-best 14 digs. Senior Melissa Popp recorded nine kills, while senior Jenni Casper tallied 12 digs, two aces and two assist on the night.
Alabama outhit the Wildcats .378-.218 and had 14 blocks compared to eight by UK.
The two teams played evenly in the opening game with neither team leading by more than two until the Crimson Tide went on a 5-0 run to take a 14-10 advantage and force UK to burn its first timeout. Sophomore Ashlee Fisher answered with a mammoth kill out of the break to stop the Bama streak and two straight Tide errors pulled the Cats within one at 14-13. The score was knotted at 18 until UA put together another five-point rally to take a 22-18 lead. The Wildcats once again clawed back into it on a Melissa Popp kill, followed by another kill by Fisher. A block assist by Nicole Britenriker and Sarah Rumely pulled the Cats within a point at 22-21 and force an Alabama timeout.
The Cats tied the score at 22 on another put-down by Fisher but saw the Tide score three unanswered to take a 25-22 lead. The Cats would pull to within two at 27-25 on a kill down the middle by Queen Nzenwa but the Tide went on to take the opening set by a final of 30-26.
Alabama opened game two with a 7-1 run with the aid of several UK hitting errors to force an early Wildcat timeout. The hitting woes continued for the Wildcats who trailed 9-1 before a kill by Tess Edwards snapped a six-point UA scoring streak. An ace by BriAnne Sauer made it a 10-4 Tide lead before an Alabama kill, followed by two Kentucky ball handling errors made it a 13-4 lead for Bama.
The Wildcats chipped away at the lead and pulled to within 10 after a pair of kills by Fisher to make it a 19-9 Alabama edge. However, the Tide hot hitting continued as it went ahead 22-9 before a kill by Erin Turner stopped the streak and made it a 22-10 score. Kentucky went on a 5-1 run to pull within nine at 24-15 behind an ace by Julie Gagnon and a pair of kills by Popp. UA scored two straight to push its lead back to 11 (26-15) before the Wildcats made one final run and pulled to within eight after a Fisher kill and a block assist by Rumley and Britenriker made it a 27-19 lead for Bama who went on to take game two by a final score of 30-20.
UK came out rejuvenated in game three and took a 5-3 lead on back-to-back Britenriker kills, followed by a dump by Rumely who then teamed up for a block assist with Nzenwa. The Wildcats made it a 9-5 lead on kills by Fisher and Nzenwa. UA scored three of the next four with the aid of more Kentucky hitting errors to pull to within two at 10-8. The Wildcats continued to lead by three, 17-14, after a pair of put-downs by Britenriker, but the Tide would not go away and rallied to tie the score at 20-20 which resulted in a Wildcat timeout.
Out of the break, the Wildcats scored on another kill from Fisher before the Tide took a one-point lead (22-21) on back-to-back kills. An Alabama hitting error and Jenni Casper?s second service ace of the match made it a 23-22 Kentucky lead and forced the Tide to call for time. UA tied the score at 23 after a Kentucky ball handling error but saw the Cats go on top 24-23 on a kill by Popp. Bama knotted the score again at 24-24 on a kill and the final game saw four more ties before the Tide eventually won by a final of 31-29.
Kentucky returns to action next weekend, Oct. 20, when it travels to Baton Rouge to take on LSU.
