After playing last season in Rupp Arena, Kentucky volleyball played its first game back in what is now called Historic Memorial Coliseum after the renovations on Friday. 

Hosting a full-weekend slate with schools from around the state in the “Bluegrass Battle,” Kentucky started things off right as, in its first game, it swept Northern Kentucky.

The players on the court expressed the significance of the event and their liking to the changes to the storied venue.

“It was awesome,” star senior Emma Grome said. “I mean , that place is seriously so cool and it’s better than we could have ever imagined.”

Senior libero Eleanor Beavin also gave her opinion about the new changes.

“The first time that we were actually setting foot onto the court we were all just like, literally had no words,” she said.  

Since Historic Memorial Coliseum is on Kentucky’s campus, the student section was much bigger than the one for games in Rupp, an off campus arena made for the men’s basketball team. The student section is also way closer to the court and is sure to give Kentucky more of a home-court advantage, making up for the advantage it loses by no longer having one of the few arenas without air conditioning.

UK coach Craig Skinner also liked what he saw and thought the fans liked what they saw as well.

“I think they’re gonna want to come back because they will feel like they’re right in the action,” he said.

Grome also expressed a love for the environment in the new Historic Memorial Coliseum.

“It’s huge. I mean, just to feel an environment like that, where it feels like all the fans really are engaged in it and doing the cheers and stuff. It just adds a little more motivation.”

With the expensive renovations, numerous changes were made including the aforementioned addition of air conditioning, new seating and the background views in the stadium. Fans can get a more in depth breakdown of the changes here.

Certainly the source of many team jokes from the veterans that played in the original Memorial Coliseum, Grome quipped about the change.

“It was very nice,” she said. “I wasn’t leaving sweat trails on the floor or anything.”

With the new venue in its infancy and seeing history books being written every match from the first win to Jordyn Dailey having the first ever point in the new venue, it’s certainly going to be a year of firsts for the Wildcats in their new home as the program seeks an eighth consecutive SEC Championship and potentially even a second ever national championship.

Before they can get there, however, the Wildcats will face off next against No. 7 Penn State in the first match of the Kentucky Invitational. The match against the Nittany Lions is scheduled for Friday, Sept. 6, and will begin at 7 p.m. ET. Fans can watch the match on the SEC Network.