Kentucky 'Blocks' Tennessee Upset Attempt
After Tennessee took the first set from Kentucky on Sunday, UK All-American Brooklyn DeLeye and her teammates took a bit of offense to allowing the Vols to take the set. DeLeye and her teammates found out that Tennessee had 19 kills in the first set and they made it a point to not let that happen again.
“We were told in the first set they had 19 kills, which usually doesn’t happen against us,” DeLeye said. “We kind of took a little bit of pride in not letting that happen the rest of the match.”
The Cats picked up their blocking, with five blocks in each of the next two sets and 14 total in the match on their way to a four-set win inside Historic Memorial Coliseum. The 14 blocks are the second most that the Cats have had in a four-set match this season, trailing only the 15 they had on Thursday at Missouri.
Eva Hudson thought that the Cats needed to pick up their blocking to help before the offense really got going.
“I think, especially in the beginning, our attacking wasn’t as good as we wanted it to be, so we really focused on blocking,” Hudson said. “I think it picked up and that also helps our defense get a lot of balls up.”
UK head coach Craig Skinner agreed with Hudson’s assessment.
“It was a very important piece of the match because offensively, they had more kills than us,” Skinner said. “Great teams have to find different ways to be successful.”
Big Blue Nation Responds
During a media opportunity on Monday, Skinner challenged the Big Blue Nation to show up and sell out Historic Memorial Coliseum on Sunday. And the Kentucky fan base responded in a big way.
“It is absolutely amazing to see how much support, when asked, the BBN shows up,” Hudson said. “We are so grateful and I’m glad we got a win for you guys.”
Her head coach agreed.
“Without the Big Blue Nation today, I’m not sure we weather that storm,” Skinner said. “Super proud of the fact that people want to come watch us play. For that to happen today and for us to win the way we did, I think was a very important piece of our program’s development.”
Attendance at Sunday’s match was 6,236, the third largest crowd in program history.
