Erin Lamb Says it’s a Privilege to Wear Kentucky on her Chest

Erin Lamb shed a few tears with her family before her Senior Day game at Kentucky. (Vicky Graff Photo)

Erin Lamb was the Gatorade Player of the Year in Minnesota, played on a state championship team, earned All-American honors and was a top 30 recruit nationally.

Still, she had a lot of pressure on her when she came to Kentucky in 2021 because UK was coming off a national championship season. Lamb and classmates Emma Grome and Eleanor Beavin certainly have handled the pressure as UK has won four straight Southeastern Conference championships since their arrival and are in the NCAA Tournament for the fourth straight year. Now they are headed to the Sweet 16 to play Missouri, a team they beat twice during the regular season.

“I mean we set out to do this as a freshman and to add more on to what they already had done,” said Lamb. “Obviously there was pressure, but pressure is a privilege in our gym. It’s just a privilege to wear Kentucky across our chest, and we take pride in that.

“We wanted to come in and do whatever we could to take on what was  in front of us.”

Lamb said she bonded immediately with Grome, an All-American setter and SEC Player of the Year, and Beavin, an all-SEC libero.

“We were pretty close from the start. We had gotten to know each other before even coming on campus,” Lamb said.  “There was definitely a bond there from the beginning and it carried on all four years.

“I’m so blessed to have them in my life. I’ll have them with me forever, the rest of my life. We made that bond and it never went away.”

Kentucky has faced a lot of adversity this season. The Cats were 6-6 after consecutive losses to Purdue, Louisville and Stanford and then suffered a fourth straight loss at Auburn to open SEC play. After getting three wins, two-time defending national champion Texas came to Lexington and swept UK.  

Lamb was injured and missed most 12 SEC matches and Asia Thigpen, who plays the same position, hurt her knee before the Purdue loss. She came back and played only sparingly in NCAA wins over Cleveland State and Minnesota last week.

Coach Craig Skinner also moved Beavin, who had started every match at libero for three years, to a rotational player and inserted sophomore Molly Tuozzo at libero.

Yet Kentucky has won 14 straight matches, including nine by sweeps, since the Texas loss.

“Craig is really good about just recruiting depth, and then that’s something we pride ourselves on. We have a lot of depth. We have people every single day in practice challenging us,” Lamb said. “It makes us better, it makes them better, and it makes us ready for the next opportunity. So credit to Craig for that.”

Beavin never let her move impact the team negatively and Lamb respects the way her teammate responded.

“It would have been very easy to just hang it up and say, ‘You know what? This sucks and I’m done.’ But that’s the complete opposite of what she did. She even stepped up more, I would say,  as a vocal leader, didn’t let it put her down at all,” Lamb said. “She’s playing phenomenal.”

What about Lamb? She could have let the non-volleyball medical issue that kept her on the sideline discourage her but she kept smiling and encouraging until she got back in the lineup.

“I’ve never been taught that way (to give up), and I will never do anything like that,” the Kentucky senior said. “I know it’s in my character that when the times are hard, I’m definitely  there to step up and whoever needs me, wherever you need me, I’m ready to be there.”

Lamb likes where Kentucky is in their postseason journey. The seniors have been to the Sweet 16 but have not advanced past that round. Lamb believes this team can make a deep postseason run.

“We were definitely tested early, which I think we’re going to use to our advantage. Our depth, getting pushed every day during practice is an advantage,” she said. “Moving forward, we’re going to take this (winning the SEC) and just continue to build off that.

“There are still little things that we need to get better at. Just tidying up things and taking our game to the next level to do all we can to have a great finish,” Lamb said.

Whenever her UK career does end, Lamb knows what the most important thing she learned at Kentucky has been.

“Surround yourself with people that are going to push you and make you the best version of yourself that you can be,” Lamb said. “I would not be standing here in the shape I am without the staff and my teammates and my family pushing me. I would never have thought as a freshman I would be who I am today and I am very thankful for everyone who helped me get to this point.”