UK volleyball opened SEC action with the 12-1 Georgia Bulldogs following four-consecutive wins by way of sweeps.

UK had high hopes entering the match as they were 40-25 all-time against the Bulldogs.

The Cats started off slow in the match, but picked up tempo quickly in the 3-0 (25-19, 25-16, 25-14) win over the Bulldogs. The win gives the team its fourth consecutive 3-0 sweep this season.

Head coach Craig Skinner was pleased with the team’s defense throughout the match, especially against a tough SEC team.

“We started out a little slow and really turned it up, our defense was very very good,” Skinner said. “Hold an SEC team to 10 kills in two sets, I think (that) is pretty impressive.”

Back-to-back SEC freshman of the week Leah Edmond led the team with 16 kills and nine digs, only one dig away from reaching a third straight double-double.

“It is always good to start out with a win, especially, they were a good team so it feels really good to start out one game closer to a championship,” Edmond said.

 Junior middle hitter Kaz Brown was more involved with the offense in the match posing as a big threat to the Bulldogs.

Brown had at 13 kills, 19 total attacks and only 2 errors in the match making her percentage .579 on the game.

Entering the match, the Cats were focused on utilizing Brown on the offense as much as possible.

“We had been focusing a lot on me getting up in transition in practice, that’s been a big focus for us the past couple weeks and we knew that getting involved behind the setter would be a success for us tonight, so I think that was part of our game plan.” Brown said.

Being a team that thrives off defense, blocking wasn’t the teams strong suit in the game, but channeling the balls to the diggers was. The team had a total 52 digs in three sets with Senior Anni Thomasson leading with 14 and junior libero Ashley Dusek right behind with 13.

Confidence has been a key factor for the Cats in their past five wins  

“We’re a team that, we play our best when everybody is kind of feeling it and the energy and the vibes are flowing good,” Brown said.

This win for the Cats improves their record to 8-4 and 1-0 in SEC play. The Bulldogs fall to a 12-2 record.

The Cats head into their second match of the week Sunday against Mississippi State at 1:30 p.m. here in Lexington.