Volleyball defeats Auburn; discovers NCAA Tournament fate
November 25, 2012
By Nick Gray | @KYKernelGray [email protected]
UK volleyball concluded the regular season with a dominant road effort against Auburn Friday, as the Cats won 3-0 (25-23, 25-14, 25-16) in front of 351 at the Auburn Student Activities Center.
The win sealed a 20 win season under head coach Craig Skinner for the fifth time in his eight seasons.
UK (20-10, 14-6 SEC) will now host East Tennessee State on Friday Nov. 30 at Memorial Coliseum in round one of the NCAA Tournament.
The Cats earned the victory with help from a balanced attack that has been a factor in its success all season. UK hit .326 overall in the match with contributions from junior outside-hitter Whitney Billings with a team high 12 kills, along with an error free nine kills from junior middle-blocker Alexandra Morgan. Sophomore middle-blocker Kayla Tronick added eight kills. Billings also earned 12 digs (also a team high), good for her 16th double-double of the season.
The Cats limited Auburn (17-13, 8-12 SEC) to .147 hitting, including 32 kills alongside 18 errors.
“I thought we played really well defensively and we sided out efficiently for most of the match,” Skinner said. “I’m most proud of how we toughed it out at the end of set one and sealed that one.”
The Cats knotted set one at 17 after a Tronick kill, but lost the next three points, sacrificing the lead and a timeout with the Tigers leading 20-17. Billings’ two consecutive kills edged UK within one at 22-21, and two kills by Sophomore outside-hitter Lauren O’Connor and senior outside-hitter Ashley Frazier finished Auburn at 25-23.
UK dominated set two on the heels of a .429 hitting percentage. The Cats limited Auburn’s offense to nine kills and six errors. In set three, UK used the same formula (.378 hitting by UK, .097 hitting by Auburn) to finish the match with a 25-16 set win.
On Wednesday, UK earned a 3-0 sweep against Missouri (25-17, 25-22, 25-14) in front of 2,362 fans at the Hearnes Center in Columbia, Missouri.
Billings posted a match-high 13 kills and led the team with four blocks in the match. Frazier was the other UK attacker to reach double-figures with 11 kills marking her seventh-straight match with 10 or more kills.
Junior Alexandra Morgan earned seven kills, while sophomore Lauren O’Conner and freshman Kayla Tronick hit for six kills.
