UK volleyball wins 2 of 3 in weekend tournament
September 8, 2014
By Madison Tinder
The Commonwealth Classic proved fruitful for the UK volleyball over the weekend, as the Cats won two games out of three to push their record to 5-1.
No. 16 UK started the weekend Friday with a 3-1 (25-14, 26-28, 25-23, 25-16) sweep over Northern Iowa.
The Cats opened the first set with a 9-4 lead, forcing UNI to take an early timeout. The Cats then extended their advantage to 14-5 with kills from sophomore Anni Thomasson. UK ended the frame with an easy 25-14 win.
UK came out of the gate in the third set with a 7-4 lead, but UNI fought back to tie it at 10. UK senior Lauren O’Conner and junior Shelby Workman had back-to-back kills to give the Cats the lead. Junior Sara Schwarzwalder ended the set with two kills and a block to give UK the 25-23 win.
O’Connor and Workman both logged 18 kills in the match.
Undefeated No. 6 University of Southern California maintained its perfect record on Friday night with a sweep against the Cats. UK was unable to reach 20 points in any of the three sets (25-19, 25-17, 25-19).
“The match will be a good learning experience for us,” UK coach Craig Skinner said. “We put ourselves in a good position in set two and three, but we need to trust in ourselves to make plays.”
The Trojans never trailed in the first set, but had to fight off a UK comeback to secure a 25-19 win. Junior Samantha Bricio led the Trojans with 13 kills as she kept hammering into the Cats’ defense with service aces and seven digs. She helped notch the first set, 25-19, for USC.
UK came out in the second set utilizing the middle of the net to take an 8-5 lead. The Trojans responded with tip and roll shots down the middle to claim the set, 25-17.
The Cats completed the weekend and the tournament with a 3-0 (25-21, 25-22, 25-21) sweep against Creighton.
“We were better tonight,” Skinner said after the Creighton game. “We got 12 kills out of the middle and that was something we wanted to establish.”
UK started the first set with a 7-2 lead. Both teams scored consecutively until the Cats grabbed an 18-15 advantage that put them on a run to end the set 25-21.
Creighton took an 8-5 lead in the second set before the Cats rallied to tie it at 13-13. The Cats offense came firing back to beat Creighton, 25-22. In the third and final set, UK came out with a 12-10 lead and it was a short road to victory from there, as the Cats took the game, set and match.
UK will take on Louisville on the road Tuesday at 7 p.m.
