Kentucky volleyball seems to be peaking at right time after sweeping Western Kentucky

Eleanor Beavin, center, had 10 digs in the first set against Western Kentucky. (UK Athletics Photo)

Maybe Kentucky is peaking at just the right time.

The Wildcats won their fifth straight match — all by sweeps — when they beat Western Kentucky 25-17, 25-16, 25-21 Friday night to earn a spot in the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16.

The 12th-seeded Cats got 13 kills from Azhani Tealer and 13 digs from Eleanor Beavin.

“I think we’re just peaking at the right time,” said Beavin, who had 10 digs in an incredible first set.  “And I think coming back from last year and being so disappointed from the second round and losing on our home court (to Illinois), we weren’t going to allow that to happen again.

“So we were super focused in practice this week. Coming in, WKU is a tough opponent. But we felt like we were competent today, hitting our stride at the right time.”

Kentucky will play again Saturday — probably at No. 1 regional seed Stanford and likely will play No. 2 regional seed San Diego for a berth in the Elite Eight.

“It’s not really hard to find motivation for a match like that, especially this time of year,” Tealer said after her match-high 13 kills. We’re all really excited to play and everyone knows, addressing it now, we had an early exit last year, and so really excited to get back in front of BBN,” Tealer said.

“It’s really easy when the crowds like that really into it. So hats off to the crowd as well.”

Coach Craig Skinner appreciated the BBN fans who showed up and made a lot of noise, especially in the third set when UK fell behind 9-3 before a Skinner timeout helped change the momentum.

“If it keeps growing, you know – my dreams are bigger, and then want that thing sold out … one time here in the NCAA Tournament, but it’s growing and I love hearing from new people all the time, getting emails, text messages, people wanting tickets,” Skinner said.

“There’s a lot more people into it now than there was even three, four or five years ago. So it’s cool to see and I’m going to keep dreaming that thing’s packed [to] the rafters.”

Adanna Rollins had nine kills, including four in the opening set. Setter Emma Grome, the SEC player of the year, had 40 assists with four digs and a block.

UK had 10 service aces — Audrey Whitworth, Tealer, Rollins and Beavin each had two — for the first time since the 2021 season when it played Texas A&M.

“Our serving in practice in the way we start to train serving a little bit later in the season has been really good for us,” Tealer said. “Obviously, serving has been really good in the late part of the season.

“So we are really aggressive and low air. We hit our serves and (assistant coach) Meredith (Jewell) did a great job calling them so it’s good.”