Kentucky and WKU Split Four Sets in Exhibition Match

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Kentucky and Western Kentucky split four sets of an exhibition match Thursday night in Bowling Green, Kentucky at Diddle Arena.
 
Western Kentucky won the first and third sets with Kentucky winning the second and fourth sets. The final two sets both went extra points in front of over 1,700 fans at WKU.
 
Kentucky opens the regular season a week from Friday against Texas State at 10:30 a.m. ET in Dayton, Ohio. UK will face the host Flyers at 7 p.m. ET that night before closing out opening weekend at Noon ET against the Cincinnati Bearcats.
 
“I’m glad we had the opportunity to play this exhibition against a great team like Western Kentucky,” UK head coach Craig Skinner said. “There is no question both teams learned a lot and will gain from this leading into our first weekend of competition.”
 
Set One
Alli Stumler led a balanced offensive attack with four kills, the most of all UK players. Sophomore Reagan Rutherford had three kills as two of four UK players with multiple kills in the set. Riah Walker led the Wildcats in the opening frame with three digs. WKU took the set, 25-18.
 
Set Two
Kentucky played much better defense in the second set to even the match with a 25-23 frame. UK led by no more than two points the entire set, and trailed by as many as three with the entire set played within that five-point window. A huge kill from Azhani Tealer evened the set at 22-22 after WKU led by a pair and a kill from Stumler on the left gave UK set point before an attacking error gave the Wildcats the second set.
 
Set Three
WKU won the third set in extra points, 27-25. Kentucky had a set point, the first team to get to 24 at 24-23 on a Tealer block, but WKU rallied with two straight points. Kentucky only trailed for five points the entire set, and again – the frame was played in a tight window, with neither team garnering more than a three-point lead.
 
Set Four
The fourth set also went to extra points, as a service ace from Cam Scheitzach ended the frame. UK hit over .300 in the frame with Reagan Rutherford ending the match logging 14 kills to lead all Wildcats in the match. Rutherford was one of two UK players in double-figures with Stumler closing out the match with 13 kills.
 
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