Kentucky Wins 13th Straight With 3-0 Drubbing Of South Carolina

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Behind a night to remember from junior Kaz Brown, the No. 21 Kentucky volleyball team swept South Carolina 3-0, (25-11, 25-20, 31-29). The Wildcats currently hold a 13-match winning streak and are unbeaten in Southeastern Conference play.

Brown had a season-best 17 kills on 20 attempts, good for an .800 attacking clip. No Wildcat had hit above .750 on 10 or more attempts since Morgan Bergren did in 2014 in a match against Arkansas.

“We were very successful in the middle and (on) the right (side) the first time we played USC so it was part of the gameplan to get her (Brown) involved,” head coach Craig Skinner said. “Kaz was hot and we kept feeding it to her. She did a great job in transition of getting up and available. That’s how she has been practicing and it paid off tonight.”

Brown also added four blocks and accounted for a team-best 19.0 points.

“We have a lot of offensive weapons this year and teams are having a hard time picking and choosing who they are going to defend,” Brown said. “When we pass well and we have three or four options that has been a big help to me and all of the other hitters.”

The 21st-ranked Wildcats also picked up a major contribution from freshman Leah Edmond. The reigning SEC Freshman of the Week earned her fifth double-double with 14 kills and a career-high 13 digs. The Wildcats picked up 54 total kills, one off the 25-point rally era three-set record.

Sophomore Olivia Dailey showed why she has three SEC Setter of the Week honors to her name tonight. Dailey earned her eighth-career match of 40 or more assists with 43 helpers, facilitating the offense to a .339 attacking clip. The Trussville, Alabama native also contributed seven digs.

“Olivia has some of the best hands I’ve ever seen,” Brown added. “She knows where to get the ball and she’s a key part of the offense.”

Junior libero Ashley Dusek led from the backline with a match-high 15 digs and found the double-digit mark once again. Dusek had hit double figures in every contest except one this season. UK had 56 total digs, its highest in a three-set match this season. Five Wildcats – Dusek, Edmond, Dailey, McKenzie Watson and Anni Thomasson – had five or more digs during the match.

Kentucky returns to action on Sunday when the Wildcats head to Missouri for a nationally-televised matchup. First serve is set for 2 p.m. ET and can be seen live on the SEC Network.

SET RECAPS

Set 1

The first set was dominated by Kentucky. UK grabbed the lead early with an 8-1 run capped by a Brooke Morgan kill and never looked back. South Carolina only registered back-to-back points once during the set. Brown earned set point with a kill assisted by Dailey to take the first set 25-11. Brown led the way with five kills during the frame and Dailey registered 13 helpers.

Set 2

The second set was a much different story. South Carolina started the frame on a 6-0 run before Kentucky could respond. Morgan put UK back on track with the first Kentucky point of the set. After closing the USC lead to 6-3, the match went back-and-forth before UK cut the lead to one on a Dailey kill. The Gamecocks expanded the lead to 16-12 before dwindling the lead due to errors. Kentucky took advantage with the score 17-15 in USC’s favor and rattled off six-straight points, capped by a Brown kill. USC managed just three more points before Brown registered set point and UK took the frame, 25-20.

Set 3

Much like the third set in Columbia, the final frame was hotly contested. Thomasson started things off with a service ace, and the set went back-and-forth until UK had a 10-7 lead. USC managed a 5-0 run and gained a 12-10 lead. Edmond pulled the Wildcats back within one, but the Gamecocks responded with two kills of their own. UK went down four at 16-12 before two Brown kills helped Kentucky get back within one. No team managed to pull ahead more than one until match point. After USC went ahead 29-28, an Emily Franklin kill tied the set. A block from Franklin and Morgan allowed UK to take the lead at 30-29 and a bad set from South Carolina gave UK match point, 31-29.

By The Numbers

17 – Kills for Kaz Brown, a season-best

8 – Career 40+ assist nights for Olivia Dailey

5 – Career double-doubles for Leah Edmond

.800 – Kaz Brown’s attacking clip, the highest attacking percentage for an individual since 2014

South Carolina:

LEXINGTON, KY. – South Carolina volleyball wrapped up a three-match road swing Friday night, taking on No. 21 Kentucky in Lexington. The Wildcats earned the win in three sets, 25-11, 25-20, 31-29 to run their winning streak to 13 and improve to 16-4 overall (9-0 SEC) for 2016. The Gamecocks fall back to 14-6, 2-6 in conference play.

1st Set: Kentucky built a strong lead early off its service, going up 7-1 to force the Gamecocks into a timeout. The Wildcat front line defense bottled up the South Carolina attack, blocking down three balls within their first eight points of the game and held the Gamecocks to a negative hitting percentage to cruise to the 1-0 match lead, 25-11.

2nd Set: The Gamecocks got back on the right track for set number two, surpassing their kill total from the first set just eight swings into the frame and forced Kentucky into a timeout after running out to a 5-0 lead. Kentucky would chip away at the Carolina lead, but still trailed 15-11 at the mid-way point of the game.

Kentucky went on an 8-2 run from that point to take its first lead in the set, spurred on by its freshman Leah Edmond, who accounted for four kills and a block during the run and had seven kills total in the second set. South Carolina could not swing back the momentum after the run, and the Wildcats took a 2-0 lead into halftime, 25-20.Mikayla Shields had five kills in the set, and the Gamecocks as a team hit .342.

3rd Set: Needing a rally to play on, the Gamecocks played scrappy and brought out the block to negate an early Kentucky lead. With the home side ahead 10-7, South Carolina used a 7-1 run to pull ahead, and blocks from Shields, Jacqy Angermiller and Alicia Starr pushed Carolina’s advantage to 16-12. Kentucky turned to its net defense to keep close, and the set would be tied back up at 20, 22, 23 before an Edmond kill gave Kentucky match point.

The Gamecocks rallied again, getting kills from Koko Atoa-Williamsand Shields to put them on set point serve, 25-24, but similar to the third set back in Columbia on Oct. 2, the game would extend far beyond 25 points. That would come to hurt the Gamecocks, who ran out of subs and were forced to keep defensive specialist Joely Cabrera in the front row. Carolina had set point at 25, 27 and 29, but could not close it out with the smaller defense up front. Kentucky went up 30-29 after a block, then a bad set clinched the sweep for the home side.

STAT OF THE MATCH

The Gamecocks weren’t able to contain Kentucky middle Kaz Brown, who finished the night with 17 kills on 20 swings (.800). Brown had just 11 kills and hit .227 in the first meeting between the two teams (on Oct. 2).

NOTABLE

• Mikayla Shields finished the night with 12 kills and a .393 hitting percentage. She also matched a season high with five block assists.
• Jacqy Angermiller had 24 attacks, a new season high. Her previous best was 19 over five sets at Georgia Southern.
• Koko Atoa-Williams continued her strong defensive play from last Sunday’s match at LSU, totaling 13 digs against Kentucky, the most for her in a three-set match this season.
• Despite getting just three kills in the first set, the Gamecocks finished with 41 kills in the match, the fourth-most in any three setter this season and the most of any SEC three-set match.

UP NEXT

Without a Sunday match on the schedule, the Gamecocks now have a full week to prepare for their next match. The team returns to the CVC on Oct. 28 for a 7 p.m. match against LSU. The rematch with the Tigers will be Carolina’s annual Dig Pink match and also is the team’s Alumni Night.