For the UK volleyball team, the 2009 season hadn’t seen many close matches. Cincinnati didn’t get the memo.

Lucky for UK, the emergence of junior outside hitter Blaire Hiler and the experience of a veteran-laden UK team saved the Cats’ perfect season.

“Tonight Blaire showed what she’s made of,” UK head coach Craig Skinner said. “She loves pressure and thrives in it and produced for us in the end.”

Down two sets to zero, the Cats (7-0) stormed back to take the next three sets and the match (21-25, 27-29, 25-23, 25-22, 15-9). Behind a raucous crowd of 1,099 the Cats put on a show Big Blue Nation won’t soon forget.

“(The crowd) really gave us a push and a boost,” Skinner said. “I think that our players really felt like they weren’t going away and they were going to help us finish at the end, and they were a big part in us finishing the match.”

With chants of ‘Go Big Blue” echoing throughout Memorial Coliseum at 13-7 in the final set, the Cats realized they’d been through a lot in only one match. After losing the first two sets, only the third and fourth sets they’ve lost all year, the Cats banked on their experience to get the win.

“We’re a team of veterans now,” senior setter Sarah Rumely said. “In the past we’ve been youngsters, but we’ve all been here before and being down two nothing we said ‘Hey, we’ve been here before,’ – that’s what we said in the locker room. Just come out, do what we do, play Kentucky volleyball, and we know we can do this.”

Hiler, who didn’t play in the first three sets, took over the fifth set, hammering down five kills on only nine attempts, including the final kill of the match. Hiler accounted for five of the Cats’ final six points, including four kills and one block.

Entering the game, the Cats were 43-7 at home under the tutelage of Skinner. With six games in the books, the Cats hadn’t seen a match where they had been under the pressure they were under against the defending co-Big East Champions.

With the come-from-behind victory now in the books, the Cats believe the match can be something they rally around for the remainder of the season.

“Talent doesn’t win you close matches,” Skinner said. “It’s about how you play the game. And how we played the game the last half of that match is what it’s all about.”