Kentucky hit for .311 in the match, while holding Alabama to a dim .071 hitting percentage for the match. The win keeps Kentucky tied for the first place slot on the SEC.
Wildcat setter Olivia Dailey dished out 35 assists and picked up 11 digs for her second career double-double. Kaz Brown had a successful night with 10 kills on a .769 hitting percentage. Ashley Dusek picked up 18 digs for Kentucky.
Krystal Rivers had another big night for Alabama, despite the loss, with 19 kills and nine digs. She is now 96 kills away from tying the Alabama career record.
Press Release
Courtesy of Kentucky Athletics
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The No. 22 Kentucky volleyball team earned another league sweep after taking down Alabama, 3-0 (25-19, 25-15, 25-17) on Sunday. UK has now won 10-of-11 matches against league competition and remains tied for first place in the Southeastern Conference.
The win pushes Kentucky’s record to 17-5 overall and 10-1 in league play. Alabama drops to 15-9 and 4-7 in the SEC.
“We try and spend an equal time on offense and defense in practice,” head coach Craig Skinner said. “When we’re effective with both during matches it gives us a great chance to be successful and today was no different.”
Kentucky held Alabama to a .071 attacking clip, while allowing just 30 kills. UK recorded 10 total blocks in the match, with junior Kaz Brown, junior Darian Mack and junior Emily Franklin pacing the Wildcats with three blocks each. Two Wildcats – junior Ashley Dusek (18) and sophomore Olivia Dailey (11) – both picked up double-digit digs.
Along with her 11 digs, Dailey produced 35 assists, helping the Wildcats hit at a .311 attacking clip. The Trussville, Alabama native picked up her second career double-double in front of her hometown crowd.
On offense, UK was balanced in its attack. Brown and Mack led the way with 10 kills each. Brown, who previously had a night where she hit .800, stayed hot and hit for a scorching .769 attacking clip. No player before Brown had hit above .800 since 2014.
Two Wildcats – senior Anni Thomasson and Dailey – picked up a service ace during the contest. With her one ace, Thomasson tied the 25-point rally era service record of 98 aces.
“Anni is a gamer who takes serving seriously,” Skinner said. “She’s one of the best servers I have ever coached and it shows on the floor.”
UK will stay in the state of Alabama when it returns to action on Friday when UK faces Auburn at the Auburn Arena. First serve is set for 8 p.m.
Set 1
Thomasson started the match off with a service ace to give UK an early 1-0 lead. After a kill by Leah Edmond gave UK the early 2-0 advantage, Bama responded to tie the set at 2-2. UK rattled off four-straight points, which included a Sharay Barnes kill, to go up 6-2. After Alabama pulled within one at 7-6, UK put up three straight capped by an Edmond service ace to force a Crimson Tide timeout. Out of the timeout, UK outscored the Crimson Tide 3-1 and forced Alabama to use its second timeout. After that timeout, Alabama responded with five-straight points to make the set 13-12. Kentucky would respond and allow just six more Alabama points to be scored. UK took the set, 25-19, on an attacking error.
Set 2
The second set also started with a UK point, this time form an attack error. After Alabama took a 5-4 early lead, Alabama allowed UK to ties the lead with a service error and the Wildcats did not look back. UK went on a spectacular 13-2 run that was capped by a Dailey service ace to give UK a 19-8 advantage. Alabama was able to score six points, but Dailey picked up the final kill after meeting Alabama at the net.
Set 3
UK started the third set on a 3-0 run which included two kills from Edmond. The set went back-and-forth until the Wildcats rattled off another 3-0 run with two kills from Mack to give UK a 10-5 lead and force an Alabama timeout. After a kill from Mack made the match 12-6, Alabama went on a 7-1 run to cut the UK advantage to 13-12. Alabama took the lead at 14-13, and UK responded with four-straight points to grab a 17-14 lead capped by a Brown kill. Alabama was unable to respond from that run and Brown won the match for UK with a kill.
BY THE NUMBERS
.071 – Alabama’s offensive attacking percentage
.769 – Hitting percentage of Kaz Brown
2 – Career double-doubles for Olivia Dailey
10 – Kills from Darian Mack
Press Release
Courtesy of Alabama Athletics
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Alabama volleyball dropped its weekend finale at home Sunday afternoon against No. 22 Kentucky, falling by set scores of 19-25, 15-25 and 17-25.
Alabama (15-9, 4-7 SEC) hung tough with 22nd-ranked Kentucky (17-5, 10-1 SEC) but ultimately the Wildcats used late surges in each set to complete the sweep, holding the Crimson Tide to a .071 team hitting percentage. Krystal Riversfinished the match with a team-leading 19 kills and was one dig shy of a double-double with nine. She is now just 96 kills away from tying the Alabama career record.
Kentucky swung ahead by four points early in the first set, 6-2, but Alabama fought back within one trailing 7-6 before the Wildcats rattled off three-straight points to regain its four-point lead, 10-6, as the Tide took a timeout. A 3-1 run out of the break made it a 13-7 game at the halfway point of set one as Alabama took its second timeout. The Tide scored four unanswered points out of the break to draw within two, 13-11, as the Wildcats took a timeout. Kentucky continued to extend its lead in the closing half of the set, eventually winning by six points, 25-19.
Alabama led early in set two, 5-4, but Kentucky quickly built a sizeable lead with nine unanswered points to pull ahead 13-5. The margin remained the same at the Tide’s second timeout of the set, 15-7, and the Wildcats surged ahead to reach set point, 24-13. Alabama scored back-to-back points to keep the frame going but Kentucky eventually ended it with a kill to win by 10 points, 25-15, and lead the match 2-0.
Three-straight points helped Kentucky build a 10-5 lead in set three, forcing an early Alabama timeout. Trailing 12-6, Alabama put together a 6-1 run to draw within one point at the halfway mark as Kentucky took a timeout up 13-12. The Tide did pull ahead 14-13 after the break but the lead was short-lived as the Wildcats surged back ahead 17-14 and kept pushing following an Alabama timeout with an 8-3 run to win, 25-17, and complete the sweep.
Next up, Alabama hits the road to take on Texas A&M (13-7, 7-2 SEC) on Thursday, Nov. 3 at 6 p.m. CT before returning home to face Arkansas (4-18, 2-8 SEC) in Foster Auditorium on Sunday, Nov. 6 at 1 p.m. CT. Both matches will air live on the SEC Network.
For the latest information on Alabama volleyball, follow the team on Twitter (@AlabamaVball), Instagram (AlabamaVball) and Facebook.
Carly DeMarque has been involved with competitive volleyball for the majority of her life, playing competitively at the club and collegiate level for 15 years and coaching club for five.
Now a retired Division I volleyball athlete out of McNeese State University, she continues her volleyball enthusiasm by stepping back into …
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