Shelby Workman had 10 kills in UK’s sweep of Morehead State on Monday. (Britney Howard, UK Athletics)
A scheduling quirk made for a strange week for the Kentucky volleyball team.The Wildcats, accustomed to having matches on Fridays and Saturdays, spent their weekend practicing instead of playing following a sweep of rival Tennessee on Wednesday.”Pretty unusual, actually,” head coach Craig Skinner said. “It’s kind of weird going through a weekend without playing a match.”For that reason, UK scheduled a match with in-state foe Morehead State on Monday to bridge the gap between the Tennessee win and the Cats’ return to Southeastern Conference play on Friday against Georgia. Kentucky came in the heavy favorite and performed accordingly in a sweep.”When on paper you should win a match it’s hard to always be focused the entire way,” Skinner said. “For us to–I don’t think we had any hitting errors in set three. … For us to be able to do that and sustain it through three sets I think is good.”After a competitive first set, the Cats were dominant. UK outscored the visitors 50-26 in the final two sets behind an efficient offensive effort. The Cats hit a season-high .449 as a team in reaching the 20-win plateau for the seventh time in eight seasons and fourth in a row.”I guess I don’t think a whole lot about it, but it’s the next win,” Skinner said. “As we go down the stretch, I think some matches down the road are more important, Georgia obviously being the first one this weekend (in the) middle of a home stretch, which is nice to kind of get some confidence, get some training in.”UK used Monday’s match as a training ground of sorts, testing out a new scheme with its two middle blockers, playing 13 total players and getting some important work for Shelby Workman.”We were able to try some different things,” Skinner said. “We’ve been trying to smooth some things out with Shelby and trying to get some people some playing time in different scenarios. We were able to do that and rest a couple people that have been banged up a little bit. So it was nice to be able to take care of business.”Workman responded, hitting .444 and tallying 10 kills. She trailed only Lauren O’Conner, who followed back-to-back 19-kill performances with an efficient 11-kill effort. O’Conner, it seems, is intent on making the final weeks of her decorated UK career count.”She’s just a veteran leader,” Skinner said. “She’s confident hitting any shot. She’s just really proving herself right now as a true (No. 1 left-side hitter), someone that can carry the offensive load when you need it, which relieves some stress off your setter and also relieves some stress of your other hitters. She’s playing well and playing with a lot of confidence.”