Walker, Grome, Skinner Pace No. 3 Kentucky to Sweep of Dayton

DAYTON, Ohio – The No. 3 Kentucky Volleyball team paced by 10 kills from sophomore outside hitter Madi Skinner, 34 assists from Emma Grome and 12 digs from Riah Walker, swept the Dayton Flyers, 3-0 (25-10, 25-17, 25-16) to complete the 2-0 start to the 2021 season Friday night.
 
It was an incredibly-balanced performance offensively for Kentucky as four players had eight or more kills in the match with Skinner logging 10 kills and Elise Goetzinger, Azhani Tealer and Alli Stumler all collecting eight kills. Emma Grome again pulled the strings to the UK offense with a .348 hitting percentage as a team and 34 assists to Grome’s name for the night.
 
Kentucky’s defense held Dayton to .020 hitting for the match and .000 or below in two of the three sets played. Walker led all players in the match with 12 digs and Stumler, Grome, Lauren Tharp and Eleanor Beavin all contributing at least six digs in the match.
 
UK will play one final match on opening weekend, Saturday at Noon ET against the Cincinnati Bearcats. The match will not have a live stream, but live stats will be available at UKathletics.com.
 
Set One
Kentucky raced out to an early lead in the first set thanks to three early kills from Alli Stumler, as her pipe gave UK a 10-4 lead from the back row and Dayton called its first timeout down six. A service ace, the first of the match, from Eleanor Beavin put Kentucky up a set-high nine points at 16-7 before a kill from Madi Skinner pushed the UK lead to 10 at 17-7. The lead stretched as high as 12 points at 19-7 before a 3-0 run by the Flyers on a pair of long rallies cut the lead to 19-10. Kentucky closed out the set winning six of the last seven points to take the opener, 25-10. UK hit .367 as a team with Madi Skinner leading all Wildcats logging five kills. Riah Walker and Eleanor Beavin each had four digs as Kentucky held Dayton to -.118 hitting and just five kills in the first set. Emma Grome had 12 assists.
 
Set Two
Kentucky had another early lead in set two, this time using an 8-1 run to balloon its lead out to 16-8 after the media timeout of the second frame. At that point in the match, Grome had an impressive 21 assists on UK’s 23 team kills and the Flyers were hitting under .000 for the match still to that point. Dayton went on its longest run of the match at 5-0 to climb back into the set at 18-13 and Kentucky had to use its first timeout of the match. UK responded out of the timeout by winning the next two points on Azhani Tealer’s serve to balloon the lead to 21-13. UK took a 2-0 lead on a block by Reagan Rutherford and Elise Goetzinger to win the second set, 25-17.
 
Set Three
The first bit of separation in the third set was 20 points into the frame as Emma Grome hammered home an over pass by the Flyers and a kill from Madi Skinner on the left side, her ninth, put UK up 13-7 and Dayton needed its first timeout. An ace from Eleanor Beavin closed out the match and Kentucky took the third set with a 25-16 win.
 
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