Nov. 21, 2009

LEXINGTON, Ky. – The 10th ranked Kentucky volleyball team plays host to the 13th ranked Florida Gators in the final home match of the season at Memorial Coliseum on Sunday afternoon. Match time is set for a 2 p.m. ET start as the match is set for a live broadcast on FS South (Lexington – Channel 52).

The match will also serve as Senior Day for three Kentucky players. Brooke Bartek, Sarah Rumely and BriAnne Sauer will play their final regular season matches in the friendly confines of Memorial Coliseum.

Kentucky (27-2, 17-1) faces Florida with a Southeastern Conference title in its sights. A victory over the Gators would ensure at least a share of the conference crown for the Wildcats. Florida’s (20-5, 14-4) loss to Tennessee on Friday night made the Gators mathematically out of contention for its unprecedented 19th consecutive conference title.

The Wildcats rolled to a 3-0 sweep of South Carolina Friday. The Wildcats got a tremendous offensive performance from junior Lauren Rapp who posted 11 kills on a .611 hitting percentage. Gretchen Giesler continues to be a force for the defensive unit as she turned back nine Gamecock attacks.

Prior to the match the Blue and White will honor its three seniors. Bartek is a three-year member of the Wildcat program after transferring to Kentucky following her freshman season at Nebraska. She has charted 13 career matches with 10 or more kills in her career. Rumely earned SEC Player of the Year honors in her junior campaign and was the 2006 SEC Freshman of the Year. She is the only player in school history to earn both awards. Sauer is a native of Louisville and has transformed into one of the best liberos in the country. She recently tallied her 1,500th career dig to surge into the SEC’s all-time top-10 list.

Florida is 40-11 all-time in the series with the Wildcats, but UK has claimed each of the last two meetings. The squads have needed five sets to determine the outcome in each of the last three meetings. Kentucky earned a win over the Gators in Gainesville for the first time since 1989. Kelly Murphy continues to lead the Gators with 3.12 digs per set on .366 hitting and she also dishes out 6.40 assists per set as well.

Nearly 20 years to the day the Kentucky volleyball team came away with a win from Gainesville, Fla., as the 15th-ranked Kentucky Wildcats upset the fifth-ranked Florida Gators in five gut-wrenching sets (9-25, 25-19, 23-25, 25-20, 15-11) earlier this season. It was the first win for Kentucky at Florida since Oct. 1, 1989. After suffering a 25-9 loss in the opening set, Kentucky pulled through to tally its second straight win over Florida after earning a five-set victory in Lexington a season ago. Kentucky was led offensively by junior Sarah Mendoza who posted her third career match of 20 or more kills with a 20-kill performance. Giesler set a then career-high with 11 kills on the night. Juniors Blaire Hiler (9) and Rapp (6) contributed nicely to the offensive effort.

The University of Kentucky will play host to a double-header in Memorial Coliseum Sunday, Nov. 22. Following the volleyball game, the UK Hoops team will entertain Chattanooga at 6 p.m. EST.

All single-game and season tickets for Sunday’s volleyball and women’s basketball contests will be honored for admission to both events.

Fans are encouraged to park in Parking Structure 5 located next to Kennedy’s Bookstore with accessible entrances located on South Limestone Street or South Upper Street. Parking Structure 5 will be available free of charge. A shuttle bus service, also free of charge, begins one hour prior to the volleyball match until one hour after the women’s basketball game. Go to the third floor to access the sky bridge over Limestone. The shuttle picks up on Administration Drive at the end of the sky bridge and will drop spectators off on Euclid Avenue in front of Memorial Coliseum.

For the most up-to-date news, highlights and features about the Kentucky volleyball team please visit UKathletics.com.