Nov. 2, 2012
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Behind another tremendous offensive performance from senior Ashley Frazierthe Kentucky volleyball team earned a 3-1 (25-20, 19-25, 25-22, 25-16) win over visiting Ole Miss on Friday night in Memorial Coliseum. Frazier connected on a career-high tying 20 kills using a .359 hitting percentage to lead four Wildcats in double-figures for the third consecutive match.
“The last couple of weeks I’ve really liked the way (Ashley) Frazier is stepping up and playing right now,” UK coach Craig Skinnersaid. “She is a great kid with tremendous character, and she really is an asset to what we do.”
Frazier has been on a tear the last three matches averaging 3.86 kills per set on an equally impressive .357 hitting percentage. She’s logged 15 or more kills in all three victories for the Blue and White.
With the win, Kentucky improves to 16-8 on the year and 10-4 in league competition. Ole Miss drops to 10-12 and 4-9 in Southeastern Conference action. UK returns to action with a home contest against South Carolina on Sunday. Match time is set for 1:30 p.m. ET.
After UK captured the opening set, Ole Miss fired back with a win of its own for a tie into the locker room. Out of the break, the home team secured wins in the next two stanzas for the victory.
“I just told the team that we had to respond (after the second set),” Skinner said. “I thought we did a good job of that tonight. I have been able to see us step up lately in the last few weeks. You would like to put away a team 3-0, but this is hard to do.”
Frazier led the offensive effort, but reigning SEC Player of the Week Christine Hartmann again found four players for 10 or more kills for the third consecutive match. In addition to Frazier, sophomore Lauren O’Conner had 12 kills and juniors Whitney Billings and Alexandra Morganeach chipped in with 10.
Billings notched her fourth-consecutive double-double effort with the 10 kills while adding 12 digs. Freshman Sara Schwarzwaldercontributed seven kills to the offensive effort.
Defensively, senior Stephanie Klefot posted a match-high 14 digs. Sophomore Jackie Napped logged 11 and junior Jessi Greenbergnotched eight in the winning effort. Morgan led the way at the net with a match-high six rejections.
Kentucky earned a 25-20 opening set victory as Morgan paced the offense with four kills on .800 hitting. UK totaled 12 kills in the set on a .267 clip. Ole Miss managed 13 hammers on .200 hitting, but committed seven errors as UK turned back three of those attempts.
The Wildcats scored the opening two points and held the early lead. Ole Miss, however, did not go away quietly tying the score at 13 before the teams would exchange points. The visitors claimed the lead at 17-16 before Kentucky mounted a 9-3 run to close out the frame. Billings served four-straight points in the run and UK capped the set with a kill from Frazier.
Ole Miss limited the Wildcats to 12 kills on a match-low .135 hitting percentage en route to a 25-19 second set win to even the match at one set apiece going into the break.
Kentucky responded with a 25-22 victory in the third set to steal back the momentum. The Wildcats utilized a blazing .417 hitting percentage with 19 kills in the set to overwhelm the Rebels. Frazier came alive with nine kills in the set on a staggering .538 hitting percentage to lead the way.
The set featured a back-and-forth battle with neither team securing more than a three-point edge. With the scored tied at 20, UK would tally five of the final seven points for the win with three of those points coming in the form of kills from Frazier’s right hand.
The Blue and White capped the night with a dominating 25-16 fourth set win for the victory in the match. UK posted 17 kills on .424 hitting in the frame. Frazier again led the way with seven hammers on .667 hitting.
Billings began the set with a kill which was followed by a block from the tandem of Morgan and O’Conner to give UK the early 2-0 lead it would never relinquish. Kentucky opened up a six-point lead at 16-10 following five-straight serves from Billings. Morgan and O’Conner both logged a pair of kills in the run to break open the frame and allow UK to roll to the finish. O’Conner closed out the match with her 12th kill of the night for the clinching point.
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.
