Louisville Volleyball won the Battle of the Bluegrass yesterday in a five set match over Kentucky in the LNFCU. The Cards were actually trailing in the final set 9-7 before busting out on a 8-0 run to take the set and match. 17-25, 25-29, 25-22, 20-25, 15-9 were the individual set results for 9-0 Louisville now, who won their first match against UK since 2012.
It’s the third loss of the 2021-22 season for Kentucky, now 6-3 overall, after the Wildcats lost just one match a season ago.
“There’s no question this makes us better,” UK head coach Skinner commented postgame. “We found out a lot. We found out how we’re going to have to respond against good teams on the road or (if) we’re in fifth sets. We’ve got so much room to grow and this is another match that showed us a lot of things we need to continue to grow at.”
Skinner's "opportunity out of defeat" remarks are, I suppose, one way to look at the collapse that was UK Volleyball in set five .
There were a ton of highs and lows in the first four sets for both squads and they led to the deciding fifth set. The Cards had only played a fifth set once this season, against Arizona State, and had won it. UK had not gone to a fifth set all season.
With the squads tied at 6-6 in the fifth, the Cards suffered back-to-back attack errors from Claire Chaussee and Anna Stevenson. A Chaussee kill made it 8-7 UK, but the Cats Madi Skinner responded with a kill to make it 9-7.
Then, the magic began.
Amaya Tillman put on the Superwoman uniform for the next four points. She got a kill and then UK committed an attack error. Tillman was then responsible in part for two blocks leading to two UofL points and, suddenly, it was 11-9 UofL. Chaussee jumped into the action and delivered a kill to make it 12-9.
UK had seen enough and called a timeout. It failed to slow down Chaussee and the Cards, though and she helped Tillman on a block that moved the score at 13-9 and UK players shaking their heads in stunned disbelief. It was if the Cats kept trying to slide their debit cards an the machine kept responding "not accepted". in term of getting a point.
Two more Tori Dilfer serves resulted in a block of a UK attempt by Tillman and Aiko Jones and a game-ending UK mis-hit into the net. Game, set, match. A joyous UofL bench and staff ran onto the court to celebrate with the on-court players and the PA system blared the UofL fight song. It might as well have been the Wizard Of Oz's "Ding Dong The Wicked Witch Is Dead" being piped in. UK was ready to lock the door on Louisville, it seemed, and then dropped the keys, pulled a muscle in their back bending over to pick them up and then lost their balance and fell off the porch into the mud.
What say you, Dani Busboom Kelly?
“It’s huge. It’s kind of been on our list, like, ‘When are we going to have a chance to beat Kentucky?’” Busboom Kelly said. “I felt like this year we have the players to match them player for player. To capitalize on that is, again, huge.”
It was a nail-biting, exciting match in the hot and sweaty arena. The Cards had prevailed and defeated last year's National Champions.
Superlatives? Here's a few for you.
-- "The Queen of the Block" Tillman had nine in the match, four of them coming in the 8-0, fifth set run by Louisville.
-- Chaussee had 18 kills to lead UofL in that department.
-- "Team Anna" (DeBeer and Stevenson) added 14 and 12 kills respectively.
The Cards started Wednesday night's match looking like the fifth best team in a Thursday night beer league, but closed this one out looking like the fifth best team in the nation. They'll get another strong test Saturday, when they head to Nebraska.
You play until the whistle blows...and until they turn out the lights.
--sonja--
--
It’s the third loss of the 2021-22 season for Kentucky, now 6-3 overall, after the Wildcats lost just one match a season ago.
“There’s no question this makes us better,” UK head coach Skinner commented postgame. “We found out a lot. We found out how we’re going to have to respond against good teams on the road or (if) we’re in fifth sets. We’ve got so much room to grow and this is another match that showed us a lot of things we need to continue to grow at.”
Skinner's "opportunity out of defeat" remarks are, I suppose, one way to look at the collapse that was UK Volleyball in set five .
There were a ton of highs and lows in the first four sets for both squads and they led to the deciding fifth set. The Cards had only played a fifth set once this season, against Arizona State, and had won it. UK had not gone to a fifth set all season.
With the squads tied at 6-6 in the fifth, the Cards suffered back-to-back attack errors from Claire Chaussee and Anna Stevenson. A Chaussee kill made it 8-7 UK, but the Cats Madi Skinner responded with a kill to make it 9-7.
Then, the magic began.
Amaya Tillman put on the Superwoman uniform for the next four points. She got a kill and then UK committed an attack error. Tillman was then responsible in part for two blocks leading to two UofL points and, suddenly, it was 11-9 UofL. Chaussee jumped into the action and delivered a kill to make it 12-9.
UK had seen enough and called a timeout. It failed to slow down Chaussee and the Cards, though and she helped Tillman on a block that moved the score at 13-9 and UK players shaking their heads in stunned disbelief. It was if the Cats kept trying to slide their debit cards an the machine kept responding "not accepted". in term of getting a point.
Two more Tori Dilfer serves resulted in a block of a UK attempt by Tillman and Aiko Jones and a game-ending UK mis-hit into the net. Game, set, match. A joyous UofL bench and staff ran onto the court to celebrate with the on-court players and the PA system blared the UofL fight song. It might as well have been the Wizard Of Oz's "Ding Dong The Wicked Witch Is Dead" being piped in. UK was ready to lock the door on Louisville, it seemed, and then dropped the keys, pulled a muscle in their back bending over to pick them up and then lost their balance and fell off the porch into the mud.
What say you, Dani Busboom Kelly?
“It’s huge. It’s kind of been on our list, like, ‘When are we going to have a chance to beat Kentucky?’” Busboom Kelly said. “I felt like this year we have the players to match them player for player. To capitalize on that is, again, huge.”
It was a nail-biting, exciting match in the hot and sweaty arena. The Cards had prevailed and defeated last year's National Champions.
Superlatives? Here's a few for you.
-- "The Queen of the Block" Tillman had nine in the match, four of them coming in the 8-0, fifth set run by Louisville.
-- Chaussee had 18 kills to lead UofL in that department.
-- "Team Anna" (DeBeer and Stevenson) added 14 and 12 kills respectively.
The Cards started Wednesday night's match looking like the fifth best team in a Thursday night beer league, but closed this one out looking like the fifth best team in the nation. They'll get another strong test Saturday, when they head to Nebraska.
You play until the whistle blows...and until they turn out the lights.
--sonja--
--
