By Madison Tinder

[email protected]

The UK volleyball team heads into a two-game conference slate weekend that has the Cats facing Tennessee in Knoxville, Tenn. and Auburn at home.

No. 13 UK (14-2, 4-0 SEC) will face Tennessee (7-11, 0-4 SEC) on Friday and Auburn (9-8, 1-3 SEC) on Sunday.

The Cats are coming off an undefeated weekend after defeating Alabama in four sets and sweeping No. 21 Texas A&M.

Two UK players were recognized for their outstanding play in the victories. Junior setter Morgan Bergren was named SEC Player of the week for her .306 attacking percentage, 11 kills and .579 attacking percentage, and senior libero Jackie Napper was named Defensive Player of the week for the third time this month after averaging 4.43 digs per set.

The match between UK and Tennessee will be the 73rd meeting between the teams. UK leads the series 44-28 and won last year’s match in Lexington in three sets. Tennessee has dropped four of its last five games to UK.

The Volunteers enter the weekend after being swept by Alabama last Sunday and are currently on a four-game losing streak.

Leading the Volunteers is junior setter Lexi Dempsey, who is five assists shy of reaching the 1,500 career assists mark and is 36 away from having the eighth-highest number of assists in Tennessee’s history.

Auburn heads to Lexington in hopes of avenging last season’s straight-set loss to the Cats. The Tigers will be led by freshman outside hitter Courtney Crable, who had 26 kills and 15 digs last week against Georgia and South Carolina. Freshman setter Alexa Filey finished with 63 assists against South Carolina — the most by an Auburn setter since 2008.

UK’s game against Tennessee will begin at 7 p.m. and the game against Auburn will begin at noon.