Sept. 13, 2008
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The University of Kentucky volleyball team’s winning streak has reached five matches with a 3-0 sweep of Eastern Kentucky Saturday morning at Memorial Coliseum. The Wildcats earned 25-17, 25-17, 25-15 set wins to claim their fourth sweep during their winning streak.
Kentucky’s (8-2, 0-0) offense became overwhelming for Eastern Kentucky (1-7, 0-0) as the Blue and White used a .385 hitting percentage for the match and 41 kills to easily earn the victory. Sophomores Sarah Mendoza and Lauren Rapp tallied 11 and 10 kills, respectively. Mendoza led the way in the point column with a team-high 14.5 points. Rapp paced the team blocking for the second consecutive match with three rejections against the Colonels. Junior setter Sarah Rumely dished out 32 assists in the three frames while adding three kills and two service aces. Junior libero BriAnne Sauer guided the team to the tune of 14 digs.
For the second straight match, UK got off to a slow start to begin the first frame. EKU took the first three points of the match before a Colonel service error gave Kentucky its first point. Senior Queen Nzenwa earned the first UK generated point with a kill to pull the score to 3-2 in favor of the visitors. Kentucky first tied the match at eight on a Rapp hammer. The Wildcats would take over the lead at 15-14 for good off another Rapp kill. Five of UK’s final 10 points came off of EKU miscues to claim the first set 25-17.
Mendoza led the way in the second set for the Wildcats with six kills on a .857 hitting percentage while also chipping in with a solo block to score seven points in the stanza. Rapp got things started for the home squad with a kill and the lead the Blue and White would never relinquish. UK hit a match-high .519 in the set as the team turned in 17 kills and only three errors. Rumely earned a match-high 14 assists to direct the offense.
UK took the lead at 4-3 on a Colonel attacking error in the third set. The Wildcats claimed their largest lead with a 20-13 margin on a freshman Becky Pavan kill. Freshman Gretchen Giesler contributed on two of Kentucky’s final three points when she registered a kill and teamed with Rapp for a block. Rapp ended the match with her tenth kill of the match and a 25-15 win for the Cats.
Kentucky returns to action this evening for the final match of the UK Invitational when they play Albany. It will be the first meeting between the teams in school history. First serve is slated to follow the conclusion of the Indiana-Eastern Kentucky match which begins at 5 p.m.
Complete coverage of the UK volleyball team’s Invitational and live stats for all of the matches can be found at UKathletics.com.
