Volleyball Cats Begin NCAA Tournament Against Cleveland State
The Kentucky volleyball team begins play in the 2024 NCAA Volleyball Tournament on Thursday, hosting Cleveland State inside Historic Memorial Coliseum.
The Cats have won 11 consecutive matches, having lost just three sets in those 11 contests. In the process, UK took over the lead in the Southeastern Conference and eventually claimed its eighth consecutive conference title.
UK head coach Craig Skinner was named SEC Coach of the Year, while sophomore outside hitter Brooklyn DeLeye was named the conference Player of the Year.
Kentucky (20-7) earned the right to host the first and second rounds of the tournament. Kentucky and Cleveland State will be the nightcap (7:30 p.m. ET), following Thursday’s first game between Minnesota and Western Kentucky (4:30 p.m. ET).
Skinner saw his team take some losses early in the season as the Cats faced one of the nation’s toughest schedules. Kentucky has improved as the year has moved forward and Skinner likes how a number of players have been able to step up in 2024.
“We have options,” Skinner said. “We have options on the front row and in the back row. We have options in front of the setter, in the middle third of the net and behind the setter. But I think the more important piece of that is that we haven’t had to rely on one thing – offense, defense or serving. We’ve had matches where we’ve won it because of one of those three. If you have all three of those things going at the same time, it makes you super difficult to beat. So, that’s the goal as we start this week that every phase of our game is a threat.”
Skinner knows that his team must not look too far ahead, facing a Cleveland State team that won the Horizon League championship. The UK head coach hopes his team will handle its business as it has all season and that the Cats will know what it takes to move on in the tournament.
“Great effort, great concentration,” Skinner said. “As we have seen in NCAA Tournaments in other sports, you cannot take any opponent for granted. We have a lot of respect for Cleveland State and what they’re doing. We, so far this year, have done a good job of staying in the moment. We have to have that mindset starting Thursday. There’s just no other way about it.”
Thursday’s game will be streamed on ESPN Plus. The winners of Thursday’s games will meet on Friday night at 7 p.m. in a match that will also be streamed by ESPN Plus.
