Skinner's "Toolbox" Paying Dividends for UK Volleyball
The typical toolbox contains a variety of items that can be used to remedy certain situations. Need a nail in the wall – a hammer will do the trick. Have a bolt that needs to be tightened – a wrench could be the tool that is needed.
Kentucky volleyball head coach Craig Skinner mentioned his toolbox on Thursday, but the UK head man is not preparing for any household repairs. Instead, he is getting his team ready for Friday’s NCAA Volleyball Tournament Sweet 16 match against BYU (Noon ET, ESPNU).
The toolbox of which Skinner speaks is metaphorical, but that does not mean it’s any less useful for the fourth-seeded Wildcats.
“Each match presents a different challenge,” Skinner said. “Tomorrow’s match will present something to us in the first couple of games. We will either ride what we’re doing, if it’s working, or figure out how to adjust and counter-attack what they’re doing. Like (winning at) LSU, like winning on the road at Florida, like winning some of the matches we did in pre-conference. It adds to our toolbox of things we can pull from in our next match.”
The newest tool in Skinner’s toolbox came on Saturday night, when the Wildcats rallied from two sets down to beat Western Kentucky 3-2 to advance to UK’s first Sweet 16 since 2012. It was yet another example of an experience that the Wildcats can call upon when they need a spark in a particular situation.
“I think understanding that we can do it and understanding that we just have to weather the storm and kind of take it one point at a time,” said senior Kaz Brown. “I think having that confidence is good to have. Obviously like Craig said, no one wants to go into a match down 0-2, but if you know that you can fight back from adversity I think it gives us a certain special kind of confidence.”
Kentucky’s toolbox gained new “tools” when the Wildcats beat then-No. 1 Florida on the road, and also when the Wildcats rallied from two sets down to win at LSU. Kentucky also learned from a pair of early-season road losses at Kansas and Creighton.
Sophomore Leah Edmond remembers them all very well.
“With some of the games we’ve played we’ve had the opportunity to see what our team is all about, like right at the beginning – like Creighton, Kansas playing that weekend,” Edmond said. “Then, at LSU and Florida. We’ve had many opportunities to be in different environments, so I think that’s helped us out so much these last couple of weekends.”
Senior Ashley Dusek thinks that the items in the toolbox work because of how tightly-knit this team is.
“We have such great chemistry,” Dusek said. “We’ve had potential to be like this on teams prior, but just our chemistry and how we’re all like really true friends – and we just love our company and playing while doing that is awesome.”
Skinner will reach into his toolbox again on Friday as the Wildcats face a BYU team that is 30-2 on the season. The UK head coach knows that BYU will be a challenge for his team.
“They know how to win, they’ve been here before,” Skinner said. “They have experienced outside hitters that do a great job, they’re physical in the middle, their setter does a great job, they’re well-coached. There’s not much to say that there’s anything wrong with Brigham Young (University).”
Skinner thinks that the match could be won by the “bigs” at the net.
“It’s a pretty interesting matchup because both teams are pretty physical at the net and their height has given them advantages and (ours has) given us advantages all year long,” Skinner said. “I think it’s a good matchup for us. I think we are physical in every position, we’ve got a lot of experience, a lot of athleticism.”
Perhaps one of those tools will be the one that Skinner pulls out of his toolbox on Friday.
