Daniel Peeples Photo
Kentucky volleyball had one special fan in Nashville Sunday when it played No. 1 Nebraska and lost 3-2 after winning the first two sets.
Kentucky commit Gracison Saylors made the 2 1/2-hour trip from Calhoun, Ga., with her parents to see her future teammates and coaches compete in the nationally televised match.
“They did so well,” she said after the match. “It was awesome seeing them playing at such a great level. There was so much energy in the arena. It was crazy to see the fans and there were a whole bunch of Nebraska fans. The UK parents were there and UK fans were sprinkled around the arena.”
Saylors did not get a chance to talk to Kentucky coach Craig Skinner before or after the match. However, she is still true blue.
“I am so excited about Kentucky volleyball and being at this match just made me even more excited for next year and what’s to come,” Saylors said. “My parents loved it. Seeing that competitiveness from both teams was so much fun. It was a Final Four feel for sure.”
The 6-foot-3 middle hitter said Kentucky was her “dream school” when she committed to the Cats over a year ago. She knows redshirt freshman Hannah Benjamin, another Georgia product. Saylors attended a UK camp and could sense then how much UK players and coaches loved what they were doing.
Saylors, who has a perfect 4.0 grade-point average, didn’t start “high level volleyball” until her sophomore year and knows her best volleyball is still to come.
Her high school team exceeded expectations last year by making the state championship game before losing. Saylors was named co-player of the year in Georgia.
“We are still kind of building our program, so that was pretty unexpected. As of now, we are doing really good this year and hope to make it back (to the title game) again,” she said.
There’s no doubt, though, where she will be next season.
“I haven’t talked to anybody (from another college) or anybody else since I committed to Kentucky. Nobody has tried to reach out to me because they know I am all blue and thrilled to be committed to Kentucky,” she said.
