Emma Grome leads the nation in assists per set. (Vicky Graff Photo)
Kentucky won its seventh straight Southeastern Conference volleyball championship this season — the longest conference streak ever by any UK team — and now will face Arkansas for a third time Thursday afternoon in the NCAA Sweet 16.
That seemed unlikely when UK started the season 3-7 but now coach Craig Skinner’s team has won 18 straight matches, including the last four by sweeps.
Junior setter Emma Grome is a big reason UK has bounced back. She leads the NCAA with over 12 assists per set and it is still perplexing that she was not named SEC Player of the Year like she was in 2022 considering her statistics are amazing on the best team in the conference.
But Grome’s only focus now is winning the NCAA championship. If Kentucky wins Thursday, it will likely face host Nebraska, the nation’s No. 1 and a 3-1 winner over UK this year, in the Elite Eight.
“Obviously everybody was talking about us and wondering about us at the beginning of the season and we clearly did not do good,” said Grome. “We came into the season changing a lot of things we do offensively and defensively.
“We worked hard for 14 days of preseason practice, and thought things were going well but games showed what needed to work on. We needed a growth period to find connections and new plays. We were also playing some really good teams.
“It can be discouraging when you lose that many at the beginning of the season. We just talked as a team and knew the potential we had and said we were not going to lose hope. Now that is clearly paying off because we are clicking and peaking at the right time.”
Grome’s improvement this year has not been easy because she played at such a high standard in 2022. Yet like assistant coach Madison Lilley, the national player of the year when UK won the 2020 national title, Grome has found a way to get even better.
“I think it is impossible not to get better if you put the effort in,” Skinner said. “She’s a gym rat. She studies the game, watches videos. She is never satisfied.”
Skinner said she’s always talking to UK’s assistant coaches for ways to improve and is not afraid to put herself in “uncomfortable situations” so she can improve.
“If she was not putting the effort in she would not get better,” Skinner said. “Give her credit for the changes we asked her to make.”
