By Kyle Arensdorf  | Volleyball beat writer

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After the UK volleyball match on Friday night, head coach Craig Skinner prefaced his routine post-game interview by asking, “Have you ever seen a volleyball match like that before? Wow.”

Skinner’s shock stemmed from a three-set victory against Texas A&M University in which the Cats seized each set by a mere two points (26-24, 25-23, 26-24).

“We knew it was going to be a battle. We knew we had to be really good defensively and we certainly did that tonight,” Skinner said.

The teams exchanged points in the opening portions of the first set before the Cats opened up an 8-5 lead.  Texas A&M was able to block a number of UK’s kill-attempts and regain a 12-14 advantage, forcing a Skinner timeout.

“In the beginning, we were hitting (downward) more, but Craig told us to start hitting high at their hands,” senior middle blocker Alexandra Morgan said. “We started hitting some really deep shots and they weren’t able to handle those.”

The Cats reached set-point behind an illegal touch call on Texas A&M, 24-23. UK gave up one last point to Texas A&M before rattling off two more points to take the first set, 26-24.

When the teams switched benches, Texas A&M head coach Laurie Corbell had a heated exchange with the referee and the line judge contesting the call that gave the Cats their 25^th point.

UK began the second set in a 3-6 hole behind four Texas A&M kills. A kill and a block from junior outside hitter Lauren O’Conner tied the set at 7-7.

Both teams traded multiple one-point leads before a kill by sophomore middle-blocker Sara Schwarzwalder put the Cats on top 19-17, causing a Corbell timeout.

Texas A&M climbed to a 22-23 lead over UK before two straight points by the Cats gave them set-point. The second set was capped-off, 25-23, by O’Conner’s sixth kill of the set.

Freshman outside hitter Anni Thomasson recorded her last kill of the match in the second set and accompanied her five kills with eight hitting-errors, culminating in her first negative hitting percentage since Sept. 13 against Pepperdine University.

“She made a lot of hitting errors and she wasn’t that sharp offensively,” Skinner said. “Freshmen have tough matches at times and she needs to work through it and get ready for the next match.”

Morgan registered four kills in seven points to hand UK a 7-6 lead early in the third set.  As Texas A&M knotted the score at 11-11, the Cats rattled off three more points to gain a 14-11 advantage.

Skinner became especially animated after an extended rally ended in a kill by sophomore setter Morgan Bergren, growing the UK lead to 17-13.

The Cats maintained the lead until Texas A&M started a 5-0 run to put UK in a 19-21 hole.

Texas A&M reached set-point at 24-23 before two kills by Schwarzwalder and senior outside hitter Whitney Billings and a block by Morgan seized the match.

Billings garnered seven kills in the deciding set, giving her 15 for the match and her 39^th career double-double.

“That was the most aggressive that I’ve ever seen her offensively,” Skinner said of Billings. “She had some errors but she had some big time kills when we needed it and made plays at the net.”

The Cats have a short layoff before they take to the court on Sunday at 1:30 p.m. in Memorial Coliseum to face-off against the undefeated No. 4 University of Missouri.