Kentucky assistant Madison Lilley says Emma Grome works to make herself one of the nation’s best players. (Vicky Graff Photo)
Kentucky volleyball opens its season Tuesday in Louisville playing national power Nebraska in the first AVCA First Serve Showcase in the KFC Yum! Center.
“We are super pumped,” said UK assistant coach Madison Lilley, the national player of the year on Kentucky’s 2020 national championship team. “We are playing a little earlier than normal and it’s going to be really special to be part of the season-opening showcase on national TV (ESPN2). Our six seniors are really juiced.”
One of those seniors is All-American setter Emma Grome, who had to follow Lilley’s brilliant career.
“Setters are the quarterback of the team. No one else touches the ball every single time like the setter does most times,” Lilley said.
The assistant coach said Grome has gone from talking about techniques and mechanics to focusing more on decision making, the setting sequence and the IQ part of her game.
“Once you have your consistency down, the next step is IQ and how to set all your hitters up,” Lilley said. “We have some crazy offensive weapons for her to use.
“Emma is super easy to work with. She watches videos. She has high goals but she puts in the work in the offseason and deserves all the respect she gets.”
Lilley confidently proclaimed Kentucky would win a national championship when she was a freshman, a modest boast she does not remember but plenty of others do.
“Multiple people brought up that I said that, so I probably did. Emma works hard enough and her teammates believe in her enough to be that type of leader to get you there,” Lilley said. “It is one thing for someone who does not work hard to act like they want to win but everyone sees through that. Emma’s work is genuine and teammates know that.”
