Sept. 20, 2012
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The Kentucky volleyball will hit the road for a pair of Southeastern Conference matches this weekend beginning with a date at LSU on Friday at 8 p.m. ET. UK will then travel to one of the new conference members in Texas A&M on Sunday for a 2:30 p.m. ET first serve. This marks the first SEC action away from home in the 2012 season.
UKathletics.com’s Ryan Suckow will join the Wildcats on the weekend trip and provide fans with interactive live blogs of both matches and behind-the-scenes coverage of the trip with the team.
Kentucky (6-5, 0-1 SEC) dropped its lone match of the weekend to 13th-ranked Florida on Sunday. Junior Alexandra Morgan led the offensive effort with a career-high 10 kills, and senior Stephanie Klefot had a match-high 18 digs.
Klefot is 42 digs shy of moving into second place on UK’s all-time career digs’ list. Senior Ashley Frazier is also approaching a milestone. The outside hitter is a mere 23 kills shy of topping 1,000 for her career.
The Louisiana State Tigers (4-7, 0-2 SEC) will host their first home match of the season when the Wildcats travel into Baton Rouge, La., on Friday. LSU dropped its first two matches of the SEC slate with a 3-0 loss to Alabama and a 3-2 heartbreaker to South Carolina.
Last season, Kentucky took both matches from the Tigers, each in four-set fashion.LSU is led offensively by middle blocker Desiree Elliott. Elliott leads the Tigers with 122 kills (3.39 kills per set) and is hitting at a .279 clip for the season. Defensively, Khortni Fears leads LSU with 41 blocks (1.21 blocks per set) and Meghan Mannari owns 127 digs (4.18 digs per set) on the season.
The Tigers return to Lexington, Ky., to play the Wildcats on Oct. 21. For a 1:30 p.m. ET first serve.
Texas A&M (10-1, 2-0 SEC) enters the matchup with the Blue and White as one of the hottest teams in the SEC, riding a nine-match winning streak heading into its second weekend of SEC play. In its opening weekend, the Aggies swept Ole Miss and held off Auburn in four sets to record their first two SEC wins in program history.
Texas A&M and Kentucky are familiar opponents after meeting up last season in the second round of the NCAA Tournament in College Station, Texas. Kentucky ended A&M’s season, winning the right to head home to host a regional with a straight set victory.
Offensively, the Aggies are led by opposite attacker Alisia Kastmo who leads all Texas A&M attackers with 106 kills (3.53 kills per set) and hitting percentage of .293. Middle blocker Lindsey Miller leads the Aggies with 36 blocks (1.24 blocks per set), while Meghan Pendergast has racked up 111 digs (3.53 digs per set) on the season.
Sunday’s match will mark the first of two meetings between the squads as the Aggies make the return trip to Lexington on Oct. 14 for a 1:30 p.m. ET matchup.
Visit UKathletics.com for the most up-to-date information on the UK volleyball team. For additional coverage of the volleyball squad be sure and check out CatScratchesBlog.com/volleyball.
