On Monday afternoon, UK suffered their second loss of the season against the No. 7 Kansas Jayhawks in 3-0 sweep (23-25, 20-25, 20-25).

Both teams came out hard in the opening set, as Kentucky set the lead early on and controlled the set. However, the Jayhawks regrouped and were able to grab the lead near the end of the set and hold on to win it.

After the loss in the first set, Kentucky again set the tone for the second set by creating a lead of 3-1 against the Jayhawks.

However, service errors and miss-communication by the Cats allowed Kansas to retake and extend the lead by as much as five points. Kansas went on to win the second and third sets to claim the victory. 

Avery Skinner posted 14 kills for the Cats, which led the team. Leah Edmond finished with nine kills and Brooke Morgan tacked on eight more. 

The Jayhawks’ player of the game was Madison Rigdon with her 16 kills for her team. She was a key player for the Jayhawks offensively with her big plays all over the floor. 

Offensively Kentucky was beat by kills as they recorded 39 kills, but Kansas recorded 50 kills. At the net Kentucky was resilient to the kills but the Jayhawks just jumped a little higher, which in turn led to the points for Kansas. 

Defense is what kept the Cats competing with the Jayhawks. Freshman Gabby Curry contributed eight digs that kept the ball alive for Kentucky, while Meredith Jewell had seven digs of her own. 

Madison Lilley also recorded 33 assists for her team in order to align her hitters up with big finishes at the net.

The Cats fought hard in this battle by keeping the lead within reach, but the balance of offense and defense from the Jayhawks made it difficult for the Cats to ever hold onto a lead.

The win over the Cats continues Kansas’ winning streak of 7-0 and drops Kentucky to 5-2.

The next match for the Cats is next Saturday, Sept. 9 as they will take on Loyola University Chicago at 8 p.m.