No. 3 Kentucky Blanks LSU In 3-0 Sweep
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Junior outside hitter Ali Stumler slammed 19 kills to the floor and sophomore Azhani Tealer contributed 14 kills on 16 swings to propel the No. 3 undefeated Kentucky Volleyball team on Friday night past the LSU Tigers, 3-0 (25-12, 25-17, 25-17) in Memorial Coliseum.
Tealer hit a team best .812 on the night, logging a season-high tying 14 kills on 16 swings, with only one error in the match. Adding to Tealer’s impressive offensive performance, Stumler led the match with 19 kills on 34 swings and also added in four digs.
UK dominated the match from start to finish, hitting .463 as a team, and holding LSU to just .258 in the match. The Kentucky defense led by Gabby Curry, did not allow LSU to hit above .303 in any set all night.
Curry had a match-high 14 digs on the night, the only UK player with double-digit digs in the match.
Offensively, Madison Lilley mastered another great match, captaining UK to a .463 hitting percentage, as she had 43 assists on UK’s 51 kills in the match.
Kentucky is now 13-0 on the season, remaining the only undefeated team in the Southeastern Conference at this point in the season, and keeping its two-match lead in tact on the Florida Gators.
Game two of the series with LSU will be on Saturday night at 7 p.m. ET and shown live on the SEC Network+, ESPN3 and the ESPN app with Dick Gabriel and Kathy DeBoer on the call from Lexington.
Tickets are still available for Saturday night’s match by accessing UKathletics.com. Fans are asked to follow all COVID-19 public health measures, including wearing a mask at all times while not actively eating or drinking, and observing social distance between themselves and other patrons.
Set One
Kentucky came out clicking on all cylinders, and won the first five points of the match and took eight of the opening 10 points. After LSU found itself trailing 8-2, it called the first timeout of the match which was followed by a backrow kill from Stumler to make it 9-2. Kentucky ran away and hid with three-successive points by Stumler, Tealer and Lilley to push the lead to 18-8 and the Tigers burned their second timeout of the set. Tharp continued her sharp serving in the frame, ballooning the Kentucky lead to 22-10 and the Wildcats saw out the set with ease from there. UK hit .571 en route to a 25-12 win in the frame, and both Stumler and Tealer logging six kills in the set.
Set Two
After a tight start to the second set, Kentucky flexed its muscle to take a 10-6 lead with five-straight points and Stumler’s eighth kill of the night forced LSU into its first timeout of the set. Out of the timeout, Avery Skinner got into the action, terminating her fifth ball of the night as Kentucky saw its lead increase to 12-7. After three straight points went against the Wildcats, UK called its first timeout of the night as its lead evaporated to one at 15-14. Following kills from the Sisters Skinner, LSU called a timeout trailing 19-15. Kentucky won the final five points of the set, running away with the frame and a 25-17 second-set win. UK hit .448, with only one error and 16 kills. Tealer led all players in the match with 11 kills, and Stumler already crept into double digits, as well with 10. Gabby Curry to this point logged 11 digs and Lilly was up to 30 assists on 34 total UK kills.
Set Three
The third set was by far the tightest of the three to that point in the match. Kentucky and LSU traded the lead in the early stanza of the frame with Kentucky leading by as much as three points at 12-9. The media timeout was reached at 15-13 and the Wildcats took a two-point lead into the back half of the set. Kentucky kept climbing by advancing an eight-point run which sent LSU to its second timeout in the set at 22-15. The Wildcats rounded out the set with two more kills from Stumler and finished the match 25-17 thanks to Stumler’s 19th and final kill of the night.
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