Alli Stumler and her Kentucky teammates finally ran out of magic. After winning UK’s first national championship last season, Kentucky was eliminated in the second round Saturday when it lost to Illinois 3-1.
Kentucky had won a fifth straight Southeastern Conference championship and was the No. 7 overall seed in this year’s 64-team field. However, Illinois clearly was the best team Saturday night.
Stumler, an All-American, had 13 kills and seven digs in her final match and came back on the court with her senior teammates for one final farewell with the UK fans.
“I think our words were, ‘This is stinking horrible,'” Stumler said about losing. “It’s phenomenal to have the fan base that we have, and I say it every day – Big Blue Nation is no joke. They come out in big numbers and they’re loud.
“(Coach) Craig [Skinner] talks about it all the time, just the IQ of our fans, and the way that they’re starting to catch on and learn about the sport is phenomenal. Our fans are truly the best, and so getting to kind of soak it in one last time with them was awesome.
“Obviously, it stinks, you hate it to be that way, but they’re just awesome. I’m so happy for this program and the future and the fans dedicating so much time and energy to the sport.”
Illinois coach Chris Tamas said he knew it would take “every bit of everything had” for his team to win and that “Kentucky fought like hell” even after Illinois got ahead. However, he said the win was no fluke because of what his team faced all year in conference play.
“We face this every time in the Big Ten. You go back through our season, and we beat Penn State at Penn State in front of a hostile crowd. We beat Purdue at Purdue in front of a hostile crowd. So, for us, it’s almost like a comfort thing where it’s like, alright you want to cheer against us? That kind of feeds us a little bit,” the Illinois coach said.
“That’s a part of sports I think that everyone loves, and so our team always has responded to when that response was needed. But I got a whole bunch of competitors, I know that, and that showed tonight.”
Kentucky had not lost a set in its last nine matches and Tamas thought that worked against the Cats.
“They hadn’t dropped a set in the last month and a half, and so we knew if we can kind of push on them a little bit, that maybe it would maybe kind of get them to think a little bit more, and I think we did that tonight,” he said.
Maybe. Maybe not. Bottom line, though, was that Illinois just played better and Skinner did not deny that.
“We knew at some point the season was going to end. Obviously, we weren’t thinking it was going to happen tonight, but just the emotional energy we put into this season to be able to compete for a conference championship and get that done, then be seeded to get a chance to go back to the National Championship is something I’ll never forget,” the Kentucky coach said.
“This team has been an unreal group to weather some of the situations and storms that we’ve had over the last year. I’m incredibly proud of Kentucky volleyball and the way we performed this year, and hats off to Illinois.”
One Response
They represented UK well. Hold your heads high and get after it next season. Us fans will miss Stumler, she is a warrior.