Hudson Makes Numbers Lie in Thursday Win

As the old saying goes, the numbers don’t lie. Unless you’re talking about the Kentucky volleyball team.

On Thursday night, the Cats proved that sometimes the numbers do indeed lie. In the NCAA Volleyball national semifinals, Wisconsin dominated the stats against UK. The Badgers outhit Kentucky .375-.254. Wisconsin had more kills (77-65), more digs (69-55), more blocks (10-8) and more assists (72-61).

Yet somehow, Kentucky found a way to win the match in five sets. UK head coach Craig Skinner looked for an advantage on the stat sheet after the game, but he didn’t find one.

“I’m trying to find stats that we actually led in this match. I finally got to blocks. Well, no. We were close, (smiling),” Skinner said. “But I think the cool thing about this team, I thought we’d done it all and I thought we found every possible way to win, and tonight was a different way.”

Wisconsin dominated the first set, winning 25-12. The Badgers had 15 kills and no errors on 22 swings for an incredible .682 hitting percentage. However, Kentucky was able to fight back to win the second set. After the Badgers won the third, UK won sets four and five to claim the victory.

Wisconsin head coach Kelly Sheffield thought his team played really well for the most part.

“We passed great the entire match, except for three minutes in the fifth,” Sheffield said. “Everything was going right in the first set. We continued to pass, we hit for a high percentage, we had more kills in four of the five sets.”

He did credit one UK player with making the biggest difference in the match.

“(Eva) Hudson stepped out of the phone booth with her cape on,” Sheffield said. “We knew where it was going. It didn’t matter.”

Hudson, an All-American and finalist for National Player of the Year, had nine kills in the fourth set, sending the match to a deciding fifth frame. There, she had six kills, including the one that clinched the match.

Hudson, who finished with a career-high 29 kills, thought that the Cats were feeling their flow in the final two sets of Thursday’s match.

“By the fourth and fifth, we found that rhythm,” Hudson said. “I don’t know. Just swinging away. Knew my people behind me were covering.”

Despite the fact that Wisconsin had better numbers overall in the match on Thursday, Kentucky found a way to win. Largely because Eva Hudson refused to let the Cats lose.