Cats Show 'Resiliency' in Sunday Victory
On Sunday, the Kentucky volleyball team found itself in a position they had seen a couple of times earlier this season. At both Louisville and Texas A&M, the Cats fell behind before rallying for victory.
Facing Florida on Sunday, the Cats again fell behind. After winning the first set, UK saw Florida win each of the next two to take a lead. That meant that Kentucky must win the final two sets to win the match.
UK rallied to win the fourth set, tying the match and sending it to a winner-take-all fifth set. In that deciding frame, the Cats dominated, winning 15-6 to complete the comeback and take the victory.
Did the previous experiences from earlier this season help the Cats in this match? UK head coach Craig Skinner believes they did.
“Yeah, those are really important experiences because there’s no way to script how any sporting event goes,” Skinner said. “You don’t really know what it feels like until you’re going through it. We needed to feel what that was like. At some point, you can flip it, you just have to have some patience and weather the storm. Those experiences are really important, just like today’s.”
Skinner was pleased with how his team responded to adversity, especially in the final two sets.
“The fourth and fifth sets, just flipping the script with the serve/pass was a big part of the match,” Skinner said. “Just proud of the resiliency of our group towards the end of the match.”
Junior outside hitter Brooklyn DeLeye also believes that having to rally in matches previously this season helped the Cats on Sunday.
“I think obviously, having that in the back of our minds and having that as experience,” DeLeye said. “I know last year, this team was really bad in five-set matches, so it’s really cool that we respond this year. You know it’s going to be a grind the entire match. So, who can find more energy in that last set and who can be more connected on the court.”
Senior outside hitter Eva Hudson agreed with her fellow All-American teammate.
“We’ve been here before, we can do this,” Hudson said. “And I think especially in our (pre-conference) really hard matches have really helped us to be able to do well in fifth sets.”
Kentucky found itself facing adversity yet again on Sunday. And as they have done before, they found a way to still get the win.
