Nov. 20, 2012
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Fresh off a dominating victory over Georgia the Kentucky volleyball team will begin its final week of regular-season action with a date at Missouri on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. ET. The match will air live on Metro Sports in the Missouri area.UKathletics.com will also provide a live interactive blog.
Kentucky and Missouri will meet for the first time this season and just the third time in program history. UK has garnered a 2-0 all-time mark against the Tigers with the last meeting coming in a 3-0 sweep for the Wildcats in 2008 in College Park, Md.
The Blue and White owns an 18-10 overall record and a 12-6 clip in Southeastern Conference action with two matches remaining in the regular season. UK’s RPI is steady at No. 24 in the latest release in an effort to gain admittance into the NCAA Tournament for an unprecedented eighth-consecutive season. Missouri is making a late-season push for an appearance in the NCAA Tournament as well with a No. 49 RPI. Mizzou owns a 19-10 overall record and a 10-8 mark in league action.
Junior Whitney Billings has put together a career-best season for the Wildcats with 15 double-double efforts on the year including a 13-kill, 16-dig performance against Georgia on Sunday. She has tallied more double-doubles than any other right side attacker in the SEC. Billings is averaging 2.96 kills and 2.73 digs per set while also leading the team with 29 aces on the year.
Classmate Alexandra Morgan earned SEC Defensive Player of the Week honors for the second time this season following a 10-block performance against the Bulldogs. The 10 rejections was easily a career-high mark, and the most put-backs for any UK player since Lauren Rapp notched 10 in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
Senior Stephanie Klefot has posted more than 90 career matches with 10 or more digs and had 19 against Georgia. Sophomore Lauren O’Conner led the team with 14 kills in a win over the Bulldogs. She’s paced the team in that category a career-best 11 times in 2012.
The Tigers have been impressive at home with a 10-3 mark within the friendly confines of the Hearnes Center.
Preseason All-SEC selection Lisa Henning drives the Tigers with a league-leading 4.67 kills per set to go along with 2.70 digs per frame. She’s totaled 23 service aces and adds 0.70 blocks a set to lead the Missouri attack.
Whitney Little leads the defensive prowess at the net with 1.35 blocks per set, while Sarah Meister averages 3.62 digs per stanza to pace the back row.
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.
