No. 5 Kentucky palms Ole Miss first lack of the season

OXFORD, Miss. – Alli Stumler had 22 kills and Madi Skinner had 21 because the No. 6 Kentucky Volleyball staff knocked Ole Miss from the ranks of the unbeatens Wednesday night time in a 3-2 (25-20, 25-23, 20-25, 16-25, 15-9) five-set thriller.

With the win, Kentucky improves to 9-3 on the season and is now 2-0 in Southeastern Convention play by means of two match days of motion. Ole Miss suffers its first lack of the 12 months and falls to 12-1. The Rebs are 1-1 within the SEC.

“First off, hats off to Ole Miss and the way far they’ve come,” UK head coach Craig Skinner mentioned. “Together with that progress, their surroundings was large and nice for SEC Volleyball. Tonight’s match wasn’t at all times fairly, however we fought laborious within the fifth set when it mattered. Our execution was excellent within the units that we received tonight.”

UK performed effectively by means of two units, taking the primary two units in tight margins, having trailed late in each frames. Within the third and fourth units, the Wildcats had been rattled offensively however picked it again up and hit over .350 within the fifth set en path to a 15-9 win of the fifth set.

Emma Grome and Cameron Scheitzach cut up the setting tasks Wednesday night time with Grome recording 41 assists and Scheitzach tallying seven.

Defensively, it was one other sturdy efficiency off the arms of Eleanor Beavin, who racked up 14 digs within the match Wednesday to go together with 5 assists. The freshman now has recorded 10+ digs in each match because the Wildcats’ beginning libero.

Kentucky will take the weekend off to relaxation and get well earlier than going through Mississippi State subsequent Wednesday night time inside Memorial Coliseum. The match will begin at 6 p.m. ET, and can be televised by ESPNU, ESPN3 and streaming reside on the ESPN app.

Additionally in double-figure scoring tonight for Kentucky was Azhani Tealer, who had 10 kills on 23 swings with three blocks.

Set One

The primary set was tight with each groups killing the ball at a excessive price within the early run of factors. Kentucky went on a 2-0 run into the media timeout, main 15-13, matching its largest lead of the set as neither staff led by greater than a pair after the primary 28 factors. The primary three-point lead fell Kentucky’s approach on Alli Stumler’s fourth kill of the match at 18-15, and a back-row termination by the senior made it 22-19 UK because the Rebels known as their first timeout of the set with Stumler already logging six kills. Following a sideout from Reagan Rutherford to make it 23-20 as Rutherford ended her fourth rally of the night time, Ole Miss known as its ultimate timeout, trailing 23-20 and Kentucky two factors from closing the set. Kentucky closed the set on a 4-0 run, successful 5 of the ultimate six factors to shut it out, 25-20. UK hit .515 within the set with eight kills from Alli Stumler. Emma Grome had 17 assists and Eleanor Beavin had 5 digs to steer all gamers within the match.

Set Two

Azhani Tealer recorded her first stuff of the night time to place the punctuation on a 7-2 run for the Wildcats and after trailing by 4, UK discovered itself main 10-7 and Ole Miss known as its first timeout of the set trailing by its largest margin of the body to this point. Out of the timeout, Tealer was joined by Stumler to dam a second-successive level and the Wildcat lead grew to 4 factors at 11-7. Ole Miss rallied again to tie the set on a blocking error known as by the down decide to make it 12-12 as a 5-1 Ole Miss run equalized the set. A 4-0 scoring run by the Rebels turned a deficit into an Ole Miss lead at 16-14 and UK was pressured into their first timeout. After trailing 20-22 and by as many as three late, Kentucky went on a 4-0 run capped by an Emma Grome kill and that gave UK the lead again to make it 23-22 and Ole Miss known as its ultimate timeout. Out of the break, an assault error by the Rebs gave UK its first set level at 24-22 and a sideout gave Kentucky the 25-23 win in set two. Stumler was as much as 9 kills because the offense was clicking at a .348 clip with eight kills from Madi Skinner, as effectively. Grome had 26 assists and each Eleanor Beavin and Lauren Tharp logged eight digs to co-lead the Wildcats.

Set Three

The third set was stuffed with runs, as Kentucky took a 5-1 lead and was buoyed by a 4-0 begin earlier than the Rebels ran of 5 in a row to take a 7-6 lead and minimize the UK lead into items. Stumler broke into double digits early within the third set and her thirteenth kill of the competition tied the match at 11 after the Wildcats trailed. Again-to-back hitting errors by Kentucky gave Ole Miss the 15-13 lead on the media timeout of the set. Ole Miss took an 18-14 lead out of the media timeout and with Kentucky trailing by a match-high 4 factors, Kentucky known as a timeout. Out of the timeout by Kentucky, the Wildcats went on a 3-0 run highlighted by a Tealer and Rutherford block and that minimize the Insurgent result in one at 19-18 and Ole Miss known as its first halt to play. Rutherford blocked one other ball out of the timeout, however after UK had two successive hitting errors, it was 22-19 Ole Miss and Kentucky had to make use of its ultimate timeout. Ole Miss rode that momentum to a 25-20 third set win.

Set 4

Kentucky’s offense continued to wrestle into the fourth set as a setter change to Cameron Scheitzach pulled the Wildcats to inside two factors at 6-4, however Ole Miss started to run off sequence of factors and after trailing 12-7, UK known as its first timeout to try to cease the Rebs momentum. Nothing labored for the Wildcats within the fourth, as UK struggled to a 25-16 outcome within the fourth set to arrange a fifth body for the third time this season.

Set 5

Kentucky entered Wednesday 1-1 in five-set matches, having dropped a call to No. 3 Louisville and successful a call in opposition to No. 14 Stanford. After buying and selling sideouts within the first two factors, a 4-0 Maddie Berezowitz service run made it 5-1 Kentucky and a kill by Madi Skinner from the precise pin pushed Ole Miss into its first timeout of the set. UK held that lead and crossed the midway mark at 8-4 due to a pleasant play by Beavin to illude a Insurgent serve that was simply out over the baseline. The match ended at 15-9 within the fifth set on a web violation by the Rebels.