Seniors Lead Volleyball Cats Past Ole Miss Saturday
The Kentucky volleyball program honored its 2020-21 senior class prior to Saturday’s match against Ole Miss. The Cats then saw that quartet lead the team to yet another victory.
Kentucky handled Ole Miss 25-16, 25-19, 21-25, 25-13 on Saturday and each of the four seniors played a role in the win. All four, Gabby Curry, Madison Lilley, Kendyl Paris and Avery Skinner, started the match and, by the time the four sets were over, that group had led UK to its 16th straight win against no losses this season.
“They all did a really good job,” said UK head coach Craig Skinner. “They all responded in the fourth set after losing the third and that’s important for the upperclassmen to be able to do that.”
Lilley was her normal outstanding self in Saturday’s match. She tied her season high with 51 assists and four kills in the win. She also had nine digs. Junior Alli Stumler raves about Lilley’s abilities.
“I could talk about her for days,” Stumler said. “She’s unbelievable. She gets better every single time we play. She’s fiery, gritty, she knows how to compete and win.”
One of Lilley’s main targets on this night was fellow senior Avery Skinner, who had 16 kills. Craig Skinner knows that the chemistry between the two is the result of a lot of hard work.
“They work at it a lot. And we work on rhythm attack quite a bit,” Skinner said. “When you’re with someone for four years and your setter’s in your class it makes it a little easier to gain that confidence and consistency with it. They’re definitely on the same page.”
Avery Skinner loves playing with Lilley.
“She’s very reliable. I can trust her and she can trust me,” Skinner said. “We know how to go off of each other and I think that really helps in pressure situations. We work on it in practice and I think it’s translating really well to games.”
Gabby Curry anchored the back row again on Saturday with 11 digs. Craig Skinner knows how important Curry is to the UK squad.
“She’s just a calming influence back there,” Skinner said. “She doesn’t get rattled, she doesn’t get too far ahead of herself. She directs traffic in chaotic situations. Very high IQ player, very calm leader and typically says the right thing at the right time.”
Paris had a season-high four kills in the match and added a block assist for the Cats.
This year’s senior class is among the most accomplished in UK’s history. The group has led the Cats to a 96-16 record, so far, during their careers. Kentucky has won three SEC championships, made an Elite Eight appearance (2017) and two Sweet 16 appearances (2018 & 2019) during their time on campus, with this season still in progress.
Stumler is honored to play with such an outstanding group of seniors.
“It’s just nuts that they’re already seniors and graduating,” Stumler said. “I look up to each and every one of them in so many different ways. Awesome people, it’s going to be very different without them. Super honored to play with them and know them.”
Avery Skinner will always cherish her time with her classmates.
“I think we always want to play hard, obviously, but senior day adds a little bit of fire so we were all really excited to get out. It was a really special night,” Skinner said. “I love them so much and we’ve worked so hard from our freshman year to know to get to the spot that we are. Excited for the next couple of weeks as well.”
The UK senior class is still writing the final chapter of their story. That story will include carrying the team to a 16th straight win on Saturday night and hopefully many more.
