Kentucky def. Louisville 3-0 (25-18, 25-13, 25-14)
- Kentucky moves to 5-4; Louisville falls to 6-4
- Louisville, Kentucky
- Box Score
- Kentucky Recap / Louisville Recap
Kentucky hit at a .434 clip and Louisville could not find its footing offensively, hitting .080, in a quick 3-0 decision between the instate rivals.
The Wildcats boasted a 39-28 edge in kills, a 7-2 lead in aces and a 4-3 advantage in blocks.
“I was impressed with our intensity, concentration, and focus throughout the match from point one,” UK head coach Craig Skinner said. “All the way through, the team was dialed into the scouting report and what was happening on the other side of the net – just a very workman-like performance tonight. It’s really important for us to maintain the level of practice we’ve had and the execution moving forward.”
Junior outside hitter Leah Edmond racked up 14 kills and hit at a team-best .600 clip to lead the Kentucky attack. Freshman outside Alli Stumler followed with eight putaways, while senior middle blocker Brooke Morgan notched seven and added three aces.
Junior outside Melanie McHenry was the top scorer for Louisville with eight kills, but hit just .040 in the match. Senior middle Jasmine Bennett added seven kills and hit at a .308 clip. Senior setter Wilma Rivera managed 24 assists and three blocks.
Louisville led by as many as three early in Set 1 (6-3) behind two Green kills and two UK miscues. Kentucky caught up at 7-all and pushed ahead 12-8 forcing a Cardinal timeout. It was a two-point game at 12-10, when the Wildcats turned it on with a 5-1 run, including a kill and a block by Morgan. A Bennett putaways stopped UK momentarily but Uofl soon trailed by seven at 19-12. The Cardinals would get no closer than five the rest of the way. A service error capped the 25-18 win.
The Wildcats hit at a .600 clip, with just one miscue (13-1-20) in Set 2. After a tie at 4-all, Kentucky rattled off six of the next seven points to go up 10-5 on back to back kills by Stumler. A 7-1 midset run pushed the advantage to 10 at 18-8 with Morgan, Edmond and Stumler chiming in with putaways. Back-t0-back hitting errors put UK on the hill at 24-12 and a Kendyl Paris kill ended it two points later.
Six hitting errors and three service errors plagued the Cardinals in Set 3. The Wildcats were on fire from the beginning, jumping ahead 8-1 and never looking back. Louisville was within five at 13-8 thanks to a 4-0 run and two McHenry kills. Kentucky scored six straight to go ahead 23-11 with two Madison Lilley aces. The Cardinals did not give up, scoring three in a row, including a kill and a block by Bennett, to slow UK. A service error and a Stumler kill wrapped up the match at 25-14.
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