Kentucky Seeded Fourth, Hosting ETSU on Friday in NCAA Tournament
For the first time under head coach Craig Skinner, the Kentucky volleyball team is a top-four seed in the NCAA Tournament. After
capturing its first Southeastern Conference championship under
13th-year head coach Craig Skinner, the Wildcats run in the postseason
will start in Lexington beginning on Friday. UK will host East
Tennessee State University at 7:30 p.m. ET. Notre Dame and Western
Kentucky round out the Lexington First and Second Rounds’ bracket and
will play on Friday at 5 p.m. inside Memorial Coliseum. The winners of
the two matches will meet on Saturday at 7 p.m. “I’m just
proud of the players and how hard they worked since January to give us
the best chance to have success this year,” Skinner said. “Our team is
very excited to get going against East Tennessee State and I know we’ll
be prepared.”
Tickets for the first and second rounds of the can
be found at UKathletics.com/NCAATickets. Tickets will go on sale Monday
at 9 a.m. for all-session passes and Wednesday for single-session
passes. Reserved tickets for adults start at $12 for the all-session,
while general admission are $10. Each session will cost $8 for reserved
seats and $7 for general admission. A full pricing guide can be found
here. Wildcat/K Fund sports passes, Junior Wildcat Club and UK Employee ID’s will not be valid for free admission. Kentucky
is making its program-record 13th-consecutive NCAA Tournament
appearance. The Wildcats are one of just 10 teams in the nation who
have advanced to the NCAA Tournament in each of the last 13 seasons. UK
last hosted the first and second rounds in Lexington in 2015. All told,
Kentucky has hosted the NCAA Tournament 10 times in program history
including the opening rounds five times under Skinner. Should
Kentucky be able to advance following the opening weekend, Kentucky
will host the NCAA Regional rounds the following weekend. Claiming its
program-record first top-four seed ensured the path to Kansas City, the
site of the 2017 Final Four, will go through Lexington for the Cats. Kentucky’s
opening round opponent is East Tennessee State who earned the Southern
Conference’s automatic bid after winning the league’s tournament behind
a sweep of Wofford. The Buccaneers finished the regular season with a
19-11 overall record and a 12-4 mark in the league. Rylee Milhorn, the
MVP of the SoCon tournament, leads the team with 3.56 kills per set. As
a unit, ETSU averages 12.9 kills per set and a .223 attacking
percentage. The Bucs limit their opponents to 12.0 kills per frame and
a .171 hitting percentage. Notre Dame earned an at-large
bid and is making its first NCAA appearance since 2012. Notre Dame
(22-9, 12-8 ACC) finished the regular season strong, winning six of its
last seven matches to build momentum heading into postseason play. The
Irish have a number of notable victories this season, including
defeating then-No. 24 Ohio State, No. 23 Michigan State and No. 21
Florida State. The Irish average 12.33 kills per frame on a .190
attacking percentage. Jemma Yeadon leads the Irish with 3.91 kills per
set. Western Kentucky earned its league’s automatic bid
after winning the Conference USA Tournament for the fourth-consecutive
season. The Hilltoppers are 30-3 overall on the year and 13-1 against
league foes. Their 30 wins include victories over Miami, Ohio State,
ETSU and Dayton. The Toppers utilize an impressive .335 attacking
percentage and 14.16 kills per frame. Alyssa Cavanaugh and Rachel
Anderson average 4.00 and 3.59 kills per set, respectively. UK took on
WKU in its lone exhibition of the season, winning every set in which
the teams played. Kentucky played nine teams who made the NCAA Tournament field, including three other SEC teams in Florida, LSU and Missouri.
|