Junior Alli Stumler led UK with 17 kills in Sunday's win over Western Kentucky. (NCAA Photo)
Since the season started Kentucky players have talked about rolling with the punches and that’s what they have to do at the NCAA Tournament. The second-seeded Cats will play Purdue in the Elite Eight tonight in Omaha. The game will be the final Elite Eight matchup and could start anywhere from 9 p.m. to 10 p.m. Kentucky’s match with Western Kentucky Sunday night did not start until about 11:45 p.m. and ended around 1 a.m.
Azhani Tealer said the team planned to “eat and sleep” as much as possible before playing Purdue and admitted she was “starving” after the three-set sweep of Western Kentucky.
“We are not worried with this group. We will be ready to go,” Tealer said. “We have talked from the beginning about just rolling with the punches. We have got to be the best team going with the flow. We’ve been trying to stay up late the last couple of nights. We’re ready.”
Purdue is the No. 7 seed and has a 16-6 record after beating Oregon in four sets Sunday. Five of Purdue’s six losses came to teams in the NCAA Sweet 16 and UK coach Craig Skinner said two of the losses came with a key player out.
Junior Alli Stumler called it “awesome and rewarding” to be in the Elite Eight and see the hard work the team did during a “crazy year” has paid off.
Stumler didn’t see Purdue play Sunday because UK was practicing. However, she has a friend on the team and has kept up with the Boilermakers during the season.
“I’ve been keeping track of them this year. They’re a good team. They’re scrappy, their defense is awesome, their hitters are big. It will be a really good challenge for us defensively,” Stumler said.
Coach Craig Skinner played to let the team sleep in today and had both COVID testing and breakfast pushed back to let the players get additional rest. His staff had already been watching Purdue matches to get ready for a possible Elite Eight matchup that is now a reality.
“When you go to a tournament like this, the coaching staff has already gotten an advance on video and watched the other teams you could potentially play,” Skinner said. “We’ve watched both Purdue and Oregon and we’ll find some time tomorrow, around lunchtime to watch the video and talk about the game plan and get on the court a couple of hours beforehand and walk through some things. We’ll have some time to get it done.”
A win would put UK into the Final Four for the first time.
