Avery Skinner, a member of UK’s national championship team and a recent Olympic silver medalist, was in Louisville Tuesday night to watch UK. (UK Athletics Photo)
Nebraska continued its dominance over Kentucky volleyball with its 11th straight win over UK Tuesday night in Louisville with a four-set win in the AVCA First Serve Showcase in Louisville.
Kentucky took an early lead over Nebraska, which returned its top 10 players off last year’s team that lost to Texas in the national title game, before the Cornhuskers rallied to win the first set 25-21. Kentucky fell behind in set two but rallied to win 25-22.
However, Nebraska’s depth and blocking took over the next two sets as UK lost 25-15 and 25-20.
All-American setter Emma Grome had 42 assists, eight digs and two kills for Kentucky. Brooklyn DeLeye, the 2023 SEC Freshman of the Year, had 19 kills, six digs and three blocks. Senior Erin Lamb had 14 kills and three service aces. Libero Elanor Beavin had 23 digs. Megan Wilson had five blocks — along with seven kills — and Jordyn Daily four
Kentucky had 16 service errors and six service aces but that did not upset coach Craig Skinner.
“We missed a couple (of serves) but we have to do that. We are going to live with some (service) errors,” Skinner said.
Remember Nebraska got to the national championship game last year with four freshmen playing significant roles and not a single senior on the roster. That’s why Kentucky had to try and put pressure on with its serves and will likely try to do that every match this season.
ESPN analyst Katie George, a former Louisville All-American, liked a lot of what she saw from the Wildcats.
“Kentucky asks Brooklyn to do a great deal. They asked her to play six rotations but she rose to that challenge,” George said. “Grome does a great set taking average situations and makes it a better one and that is the mark of a great setter and why she is special.
“Erin was somewhat of a question and she was phenomenal. She missed her shots and had a really good awareness of what was in front of her. I was also impressed with what she did at the service line,” George said.
The ESPN analyst also said to remember who Kentucky was playing.
“This was not some cupcake they scheduled. They are going to be able to learn a lot and have a heck of a schedule ahead of them,” George said.
