Curry’s Career Day Leads to Sweep of Ole Miss
Paced
by a stellar defensive performance from sophomore libero Gabby Curry,
who registered a career-high 23 digs, the 16th-ranked Kentucky
volleyball team cruised to a 3-0 (25-21, 25-14, 25-17) sweep of
visiting Ole Miss on Sunday. The win was the ninth in a row for the
Wildcats.
“When you look at the stat sheet, we did
a lot of really impressive things,” head coach Craig Skinner said.
“Killing the ball – obviously – hitting over .300. we served really
well as evidenced by the ace-to-error ratio. It didn’t feel like we
were awesome all the time throughout the match, but we were really good
when we needed to be. Obviously, we have a lot of depth and different
people that can make an impact in the match and we saw that again
today.”
Kentucky improves to 12-4 overall on the
year and a perfect 6-0 in Southeastern Conference action. Ole Miss
falls to 11-5 and 1-6 in league play. UK will hit the road for its next
three contests beginning with an 8 p.m. ET tilt at LSU on Friday.
Curry’s
record-breaking day led a slew of strong performances for the Cats who
have seemed to find a rhythm both offensively and defensively midway
through the season. Curry averaged a staggering 7.7 digs per frame as
the Wildcats held the Rebels to a mere .198 hitting clip. It marked the
eighth straight opponent who has failed to manage a .200 hitting
percentage against the Cats. Freshman Alli Stumler recorded nine digs
and classmate Lauren Tharp picked up six. Senior Brooke Morgan led the
way at the net with a team-high three blocks.
Offensively,
Morgan shined with 12 kills on a sizzling season-best .733 attacking
percentage. Junior Leah Edmond was her steady self with a match-high 16
kills. Classmate Caitlyn Cooper contributed nine on a .438 clip, while
sophomore Avery Skinner and Stumler chipped in with seven apiece.
Sophomore
setter Madison Lilley led the offensive charge with 45 assists to
couple with four digs and a pair of blocks for another all-around
effort. The Wildcats tallied 54 kills on a .304 percentage in the
victory.
SET 1
Stumler got things going for
the Wildcats in a big way with a kill to open the match. She then went
back to serve and helped UK race out to a 6-0 lead that included a pair
of aces. Ole Miss eventually scratched the scoreboard, but Kentucky
maintained its lead with Stumler still making her presence felt with
back-to-back kills to make the score 10-4. Edmond followed with an ace
that nicked the net and dropped behind the defense. Ole Miss responded
with a 4-0 run of its own to cut the deficit to 11-8. Cooper eventually
snapped the spurt with a cross-court shot. Curry followed with
consecutive aces and the Wildcats utilized the momentum to go on a 4-0
run and push its lead to 15-8, forcing Ole Miss to burn its final
timeout of the frame. Out of the timeout, the Rebels scored on a setter
dump to halt UK’s string of points. The teams traded points until
Morgan got in on three of four points. The senior had kills on two of
three points and then served up an ace to increase UK’s lead to 19-12.
After an extended rally with both teams displaying a gutty effort,
Cooper’s smash down the line made the score 21-15 in favor of the home
team. The Rebels managed to score five of six points to pull to within
three at 22-19. Kentucky opted for a timeout. Out of the timeout, the
Cats went back to Morgan who smashed her fifth kill of the set.
Kentucky went back to what was working and Morgan calmly got her sixth
kill and a 25-21 set victory for the Blue and White.
SET 2
Morgan
opened the second stanza much like she ended the first with a slicing
kill off the slide for a 1-0 lead for the home team. Edmond followed
with a heady kill when she saw the defense charging to the net for a
2-0 edge. Ole Miss eventually knotted the score at three apiece. Kills
from Edmond, Cooper and Skinner enabled the home team to once again
grab a multi-point lead at 7-4. Cooper and Paris then teamed up for a
block and the run stretched to 4-0. Morgan and Skinner struck for kills
and then Morgan combined with Lilley for a block to make the score 13-7
in favor of UK. Ole Miss took its first timeout to attempt to spell the
run. Following the break, Skinner converted a pair of overpasses,
Morgan tallied her 10th kill and UK forced the Rebels into a miscue as
the Cats pushed the lead to 10 at 17-7. Ole Miss opted for its final
timeout. Cooper and Skinner posted back-to-back hammers and then the
Cats’ defense forced an erroneous attack for the winning point for a
25-14 set victory and a 2-0 lead in the match.
SET 3
Stumler
scored the set’s first point with a kill from the left side and Edmond
followed suit with one of her own for a 2-0 edge. Morgan picked up
another kill, followed by the eighth from Edmond and then Morgan served
up an ace for a 5-1 lead for the Cats. The Rebels eventually cut the
deficit to two at 9-7, but Kentucky answered with the third kill of the
set from Cooper. Kentucky once again won an extended rally as Edmond
found a spot just over the block for a 12-8 UK advantage. Ole Miss
chose to take a timeout. Following the break, Kentucky kept the
pressure on with a block from the Lilley-Morgan tandem and back-to-back
kills from Edmond for a 15-8 lead. After Gabby Goddard got a kill off
the slide, Ole Miss took its final timeout trailing 18-10. Ole Miss
eventually pulled to within six at 21-15, but Kentucky responded with
the 16th kill of the day from Edmond. Merideth Jewell connected for a
kill to lift UK to the 25-17 win and a sweep.
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