Defense anchors No. 10 Cats

By T.J. Walker

Just like any sport, the old saying “defense wins championships” is true to volleyball.
That might be why UK (15-1, 5-0 Southeastern Conference) has skyrocketed to No. 10 in the polls. The Cats depend on solid defense to carry them through matches.

“We rely on (good defense) a lot — if we’re passing bad we cannot run any offense,” freshman defensive specialist Stephanie Klefot said. “We have to be on task 24/7, if not, we aren’t going to play to our best potential.”

The Cats are now more than halfway through their season and have been nearly perfect along the way. This is the best start in UK head coach Craig Skinner’s reign, and the defense is one reason why.

UK only lost one defensive specialist from last season’s squad, but made up for it with the arrival of Klefot. PrepVolleyball.com named her its 2008 Defensive Dandy, a title given to the best high school senior defensive specialists in the country. Klefot, however, insists it’s a team effort.

“Me, (junior defensive specialist Laura) Stokowski and (senior libero) Brianne (Sauer) back there work as a team.” Klefot said. “Without one of us, we couldn’t do what we do. If you take one of us away, it’d be a lot harder.”

Sauer is the senior leader in the back row. She has seen action her entire four years at UK but has been one of the main cogs for UK this year. Sauer moved to second all-time in the school history for digs. This season she is averaging just fewer than four digs per set and recently was named SEC Defensive Player of the Week.

Statistically, the defensive numbers appear down from last year. However, Skinner said the Cats are showing more effort.

“If you want to be one of the top programs in the country, you have to be good defensively,” Skinner said. “I think we are better defensively, which definitely has allowed us to compete and given us a chance to win every match.”

The Cats thrive off making a good dig, which gives them momentum the hitters can feed off of. Stokowski said a good dig benefits the entire team.

“It’s a great feeling, it’s a rush,” she said. “You know you’ve done your job and you know you’ve helped get your teammate a kill or a great set.

“It pumps the team up when you get a good dig.”

The win at Florida might be good enough for some teams, but the Cats still want more.

Thanks to a new face in the back row, consistent work in practice and a senior leader, the UK defense is leading the way.

“Defense is a huge part of the match,” Stokowski said. “It keeps the other team from getting easy points, but it also demoralizes them as well.”