No. 7 Kentucky Volleyball Opens Series with Texas A&M on Saturday
LEXINGTON, Ky. – After a three-set sweep of the Georgia Bulldogs on Wednesday night, the No. 7 Kentucky Volleyball team will return to Memorial Coliseum for its penultimate home series of the season as it hosts Texas A&M for two matches Saturday and Sunday in Lexington.
Match one of the series is set for Saturday afternoon at 4 p.m. ET on the SEC Network before Sunday’s series finale at 2 p.m. ET live on the SEC Network with Paul Sunderland and former Florida setter Missy Whittemore on the call. Tickets for both matches are available at UKathletics.com/tickets.
Kentucky is currently sitting at 18-4 in the 2021 season, perched atop the Southeastern Conference standings by one match over Mississippi State and Florida with an 11-1 league record with six matches to play. Texas A&M is two games above .500 this season in all matches, posting a 5-7 league record through their 12 rounds of conference competition.
UK’s annual Greek Life match is Saturday with the highest-attending Greek chapter earning a free tour of Kroger Field ending in pizza. Saturday also is Kentucky Volleyball BINGO night. Sunday is National Pajama Day, so Kentucky will be celebrating via a Kentucky Volleyball branded sock giveaway.
The Wildcats are led offensively by Madi Skinner, averaging 3.85 kills per set to pace the UK offense and Azhani Tealer’s 1.28 blocks per set are getting the job done defensively. Freshman libero Eleanor Beavin is averaging 3.37 digs per set, in addition to currently passing an SEC-best 2.39 with a 60 percent good-pass percentage, which also leads the SEC.
Emma Grome leads the country for freshman in assists per set as she’s currently running the Kentucky offense to a .290 hitting percenatage thanks to her 11.4 assists per set. Grome also leads the SEC in conference matches only, averaging a mammoth 11.9 assists per set as the Wildcats are hitting one percentage point under .300 in all SEC matches this season.
Texas A&M enters the weekend having not played since Nov. 5, when it split a two-match home series with the Auburn Tigers. Both matches between with the Aggies and Tigers went five sets with TAMU taking the opener before Auburn closed things out with a split.
The Wildcats and Aggies did not play in 2020-21. The last time the two met, TAMU defeated Kentucky 3-1 in Memorial Coliseum, which is the last time an SEC team defeated UK inside Memorial Coliseum.
Follow along with the Wildcats on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, and on the web at UKathletics.com.
