No. 7 Kentucky Sweeps St. Mary’s, Closes Utah Classic 2-1

SALT LAKE CITY – The No. 7 Kentucky Volleyball team closed the 2019 Utah Classic with a 3-0 sweep (25-14, 25-14, 25-14) over the St. Mary’s Gaels on Saturday afternoon, capping the weekend with a 2-1 record.
 
Saturday was the most efficient UK played all weekend, as the Wildcats offense hit .360 as a team, while holding the Gaels (1-2) to a -.024 offensive clip in the match. All three sets, Kentucky got out to early leads and grew them as the sets grew older and capped off the weekend with a 25-14 result in all three frames.
 
“I thought we bounced back really well today,” UK head coach Craig Skinner said. “Defensively, to be able to hold a team as good as St. Mary’s is an impressive collective effort by everybody. We were definitely inspired by the blocking of Caitlyn Cooper, Madison Lilley and Leah Meyer.”
 
Kentucky had a weekend-best day at the net, with 13 blocks in the match, including eight from Leah Meyer to lead all players. Additionally, Caitlyn Cooper had six blocks in the match, and Madison Lilley had four.
 
Meyer and Edmond were both named to the Utah Classic All-Tournament Team.
 
The Wildcats will now set their sights on next weekend’s tournament in Cedar Falls, Iowa against Northern Iowa, Creighton and Southern California. Play gets underway on Friday from the Hawkeye State.
 
Set One
It was a strong start from the get-go for the Wildcats in the first set, racing out to a 7-2 lead by winning seven of the opening nine points with four kills from senior Leah Edmond. The efficiency was spread across the board, as UK only lost back-to-back points twice in the set and closed it out with a .448 team hitting percentage. Caitlyn Cooper had five kills in the set, with Edmond leading the Wildcats tallying six. Madison Lilley had 13 assists inside the opening set and helped limit the Gaels to just .125 offensively.
 
Set Two
Kentucky again raced out to a strong start and forced an early Gales timeout at 9-5 in the set after a 4-0 run by the Wildcats. Kentucky extended its lead throughout the set, pushing it to 18-12 before SMC decided to its second timeout trailing by six. The Wildcats then rattled off seven of the last nine points of the set to put a 25-14 mark on the board for the second-straight set. UK was again efficient on the attack, hitting .344 as a team and holding the Gaels to .000.
 
Set Three
Caitlyn Cooper pummeled a ball to the floor for her second early kill of the set and forced the Gaels into a timeout, only to be followed by her third kill of the set on the next point to extend the Kentucky lead to 12-7. Leah Meyer upped the run to 7-0 on a dump into the middle of the floor that found the wood and Kentucky took control of the third set from there. UK’s net play took control down the stretch as Lilley and Meyer blocked three balls in five points to balloon the lead to 18-10.
  
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