Emma Grome (Vicky Graff Photo)
If Mark Stoops needs some inspiration to show his team how to handle adversity, maybe he should have Kentucky volleyball coach Craig Skinner or one of his players talk to the football team.
Kentucky volleyball swept No. 10 Tennessee in Knoxville Sunday. That’s the same Tennessee team that swept UK Sept. 24 in Rupp Arena when Skinner was still putting the pieces of this year’s team together.
It was a brutal start for Skinner’s team. The Cats lost to host Colorado State to open the season. They lost twice to No. 10 Pittsburgh. They lost 3-2 at No. 20 Purdue, 3-0 at No. 2 Purdue and 3-1 at No. 4 Nebraska.
The loss in Rupp Arena dropped UK’s record to 3-7, not the kind of start Skinner’s team normally has. But even with home matches being moved to spacious Rupp Arena because of renovations going on at Memorial Coliseum, Skinner never made excuses. He did not look for an alibi when one of his best players, Reagan Rutherford,
But guess what? Kentucky has now won five straight matches going into weekend home matches with Mississippi State and Arkansas. Kentucky is also now 6-1 in conference play and trails only Arkansas (7-0) and Tennessee (7-1) in the standings. Texas A&M is next at 6-2 followed by Florida and Auburn, both 4-3.
Skinner trusted his veteran players and No. 1 ranked recruiting class to get in sync and they have a chance to at least claim a share of the SEC lead if they can beat Mississippi State Friday and Arkansas, which plays at Tennessee Friday, on Sunday.
Junior Emma Grome won her third-straight SEC Setter of the Week honor for her play against Tennessee and was also named the league’s overall player of the week.
Senior Elise Goetzinger was named the SEC Offensive Player of the Week and for the second-straight week while Brooklyn DeLeye was the SEC freshman of the week.
Grome had 42 assists in the sweep at Tennessee along with six digs and one block. She now has had 40 or more assists in five straight matches.
Goetzinger had 12 kills and no errors on 19 swings — a .632 hitting percentage — at No. 10 Tennessee in Knoxville 3-0. She had four point-scoring tallies when UK was at 22 or later in sets. She also had a career-high four blocks.
DeLeye, one of the SEC’s rising stars, had a team-high 13 kills and hit .367 at Tennessee. She also had eight digs, one assist and one ace. She has had 10 or more kills in the last five matches and six of the last seven.
