| SUNDAY VOLLEYBALL RESULTS |
Kentucky 3, LSU 0
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Auburn 3, South Carolina 0
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Tennessee 3, Arkansas 0
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| Florida 3, Georgia 0 |
Mississippi State 3, Ole Miss 2
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Kentucky Concludes Road Swing with Sweep of LSU
BATON ROUGE, La. – The Kentucky volleyball team concluded its four-match road swing in stylish fashion by earning a 3-0 (26-24, 25-16, 25-17) sweep at LSU Sunday afternoon. UK struck for 48 kills on a .385 hitting percentage in the win against the Southeastern Conference Western Division leaders.
With the win Kentucky moves to 14-3 overall on the season and 5-1 in league play. LSU drops to 10-5 overall and 3-2 in conference action. Kentucky will now return home for three consecutive matches. Up first for the Blue and White is a date with Ole Miss at 7 p.m. ET Friday, Oct. 7.
“That was a very special team effort against a very good LSU team,” UK coach Craig Skinner said. “Christine (Hartmann) ran an unbelievable offense today, and our outsides terminated the ball when we needed them to. I’m very proud of this team and their outstanding effort on the road this weekend.”
Hartmann topped 40 assists for the third consecutive match with 41 dimes in today’s match while adding six kills of her own.
Freshman Lauren O’Conner led the offense with 13 kills on a career-best .545 hitting percentage. She has now posted 10 or more kills against SEC opponents three times this season including back-to-back contests this weekend.
Freshman Jackie Napper led a strong defensive effort with 10 digs in the win. It marked the first time in SEC play Napper has posted 10 or more scoops and marks the fifth time this season she has achieved the feat.
Junior Ashley Frazier topped 10 or more kills for the third straight match with 10 in today’s win. Senior Becky Pavan chipped in with eight kills and six blocks. Sophomore Whitney Billings continues to provide an exceptional all-around effort with a season-best six blocks, six kills and eight digs in the match.
Senior Ann Armes added five kills and four blocks, while junior Stephanie Klefot led the defensive back line with a match-high 13 digs. Sophomore Jessi Greenberg chipped in with five scoops.
The opening set saw the teams in a back-and-forth battle with neither team stretching a lead of more than two points for the entire opening portions of the frame. The teams fought through 13 ties and three lead changes in the stanza before UK earned a 22-18 edge following a kill from Pavan. The Blue and White took set point on a kill from Armes, but LSU saved set point twice and knotted the score at 24. The Wildcats were unfazed; however, as Frazier quickly gave UK the lead back and Armes capped the set with a kill that sliced the middle of the defense.
UK posted 18 kills on a rifling .361 hitting percentage. O’Conner and Frazier both struck for five hammers in the stanza. Hartmann dished out 16 assists in the set, while the defensive unit charted 18 digs including six from Klefot.
Kentucky claimed a 2-0 lead in the first set and never relinquished the lead. A 6-0 run highlighted by an ace from Frazier propelled the Blue and White to a 10-4 advantage. Kentucky forced the home team into its second timeout following a block from the duo of Armes and Billings with the Wildcats still up six at 18-12. Consecutive kills from Pavan and Hartmann and an erroneous attack by the Tigers gave UK the 25-16 second set victory.
UK charted 15 kills on .433 hitting and O’Conner reached double-figures with an additional five in the set. Kentucky limited the Tiger attack to just 12 kills on a mere .188 hitting clip.
Pavan’s kill began the scoring in the third frame, but LSU quickly grabbed a lead at 4-3 for its first lead since the first set. Kentucky tied the score at five though with a kill from Armes and never yielded a lead for the remainder of the set. Kentucky stretched its lead to four by forcing the Tigers into back-to-back attacking errors. An ace from Billings lifted UK to its largest advantage at 21-15 and forced the Tigers to use its final timeout. Kentucky finished the frame on a 4-2 run to close out the sweep with a 25-17 win.
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AUBURN VOLLEYBALL EARNS 3-0 SWEEP OVER SOUTH CAROLINA
AUBURN – Three Tigers had double-digit kills, and two posted double-doubles as the Auburn volleyball team swept away SEC foe South Carolina 3-0 (25-19, 25-19, 25-17) on Sunday afternoon at the Student Activities Center.
Auburn (9-7, 3-3 SEC) earned its fourth win over South Carolina (9-6, 0-5 SEC) in the teams’ last five meetings, and the Tigers improved to 4-1 on their home court in 2011.
“We weren’t as sharp offensively today,” Auburn head coach Rick Nold said. “But we made some adjustments with our blocking, and we stayed really steady. For us to be the better team, we’ve got to play through times where, offensively, we’re not clicking.
“I thought we did a good job serving and keeping them out of system as much as we could. Coming off (Friday’s loss to Florida), I was interested to see how we would respond today, and I was really happy with them.”
Senior Kelly Fidero led the Auburn offense with 14 kills, one shy of a season-high and her fifth-straight match with double-digit kills. Junior Sarah Bullock picked up her third double-double of the season with 12 kills and 11 digs, and sophomore Camila Jersonsky had 11 kills on 18 attacks with no errors for a sparkling .611 hitting percentage.
Sophomore Chelsea Wintzinger was a key to both the Tigers’ offensive and defensive efforts, posting her second double-double of the year with 27 assists and 14 digs. She also displayed toughness throughout the match, taking a couple of hard shots to the head – one necessitating a jersey change – but fighting through adversity.
“That’s something you go through; not everything goes exactly how you draw it up,” Nold said. “I thought she did a good job keeping her head straight and finding open people. Kelly was hot, and even when (South Carolina) started keying on her, we kept going to her and she kept pulling them out. As a setter, you’ve got to decide between feeding the hot hand and keeping everybody else going, too. You can see with the balance in our offense we were able to do that today.”
Auburn hit .237 for the match and held the Gamecocks to a .086 percentage. The Tigers scored 41 points off kills and won the digs battle 58-49 against the nation’s ninth-best squad in digs per set; MacKenzy Harper had a career-high 14 to match Wintzinger for the team lead. The Tigers also had eight blocks in the game, led by Courtney McDonald with three. Auburn also matched a season high with six service aces; Wintzinger and Harper had two apiece.
Both offenses were a bit sluggish in the first set, but the Tigers were able to pull ahead at 14-11 thanks to a Harper ace, a block from Vesela Zapryanova and a kill from Jersonsky. That lead would eventually become 20-16 after kills from Fidero and Bullock, and another Fidero kill and a McDonald block made it 22-17. Another block from Bullock would end matters with the Tigers taking a 25-19 first-set decision despite hitting just .150 as a team; Carolina managed just an .024 mark.
In set two, the Tigers jumped out to an early lead and never trailed after the first few points, building a 12-7 lead. Back-to-back service aces from Wintzinger made it 15-10 and forced a Gamecock timeout before Carolina then rolled off three in a row. From there, though, Auburn would make a 5-2 run to get it back to a five-point lead, and held on for a 25-19 second-set win.
Set three, however, was all Auburn as the Tigers rolled to a 25-17 victory. Auburn jumped out to a 6-1 lead and were ahead by as wide a margin at 13-4 before Carolina scored three in a row to make it 15-10. The Gamecocks, however, would get no closer than five as Auburn hit .484 in the set – 17 kills with just two errors on 31 attacks – and held Carolina to an .097 clip. Jersonsky and Bullock carried the Tiger offense in the third with both recording five kills; Jersonsky scored four of Auburn’s final five points to close out the match.
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Tennessee Volleyball Sweeps Arkansas, Concludes Four-Match Road Trip
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - The No. 23 Tennessee Lady Vol volleyball team made quick work of Arkansas, defeating the Razorbacks in straight sets, 25-19, 25-16, 25-19, to improve its record to 13-2 and 6-0 in Southeastern Conference play on Sunday afternoon at Barnhill Arena.
“We have had some really long, five-set nail bitters here the last couple of years, so it is a relief to be able to come in here and play a really organized, athletic Arkansas team and come out with a win in three sets,” Lady Vol head coach Rob Patrick said. “We did a great job against Arkansas and really controlled the whole match.”
The win over UA concluded Tennessee’s four-match SEC road trip, as the team was a perfect 4-0 and only lost four sets in the those matches. The team is currently on an eight-match winning streak and has won its last eight conference matches dating back to last year.
“Being on the road two weekends in a row is very, very tough,” Patrick said. “To come out 4-0 against some really good teams, I am really happy.”
The Big Orange defense was stellar on the day, limited Arkansas to a mere .059 hitting percentage, while hitting .297 itself.
Junior DeeDee Harrison set a season-high in kills with 15, and just missed tying her career-high by one. Harrison also added a team-high seven blocks. Junior Leslie Cikra and sophomore Kelsey Robinson tallied double digit kills, as the duo each posted 11 against the Razorbacks.
Freshman setter Mary Pollmiller dished out 37 of the team's 43 assists, in addition to hitting .500 and recording three kills. Sophomore Ellen Mullins was a force in the back row, for UT digging a team-high 14 balls.
“DeeDee Harrison really tried to get the middle established,” Patrick explained. “We had opportunities to get kills in that area and she did a wonderful job of getting up and being available in transition. Along with DeeDee’s blocking, Ellen Mullins did a great job of digging the ball into spots where we could run an offense and have two or three hitters in transition, which made it difficult for Arkansas to slow down our offense.”
The Lady Vols jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead over Arkansas in the opening frame, before the Razorbacks tied the match at three, and surpassed UT at 4-3. The set would be a back-and-forth battle, as the two squads were deadlocked at four apiece and at points six through 14. With the score knotted up at 14-14, Tennessee would score the next two points off kills from Harrison and Robinson to take a 16-14 lead.
The Razorbacks would pull within one, 16-15, but Tennessee stormed past UA, scoring seven of the next eight, including going on a 5-0 run to extend the lead to seven, 23-16. During that span, Harrison and Robinson each had a pair of kills, while Robinson also registered an ace and Harrison had a block. Another kill by Harrison was followed by a Cikra blast to give Tennessee the set, 25-19.
In the opening frame, Tennessee hit a blistering .375 and slammed 17 kills. The defense was also impressive, limiting the Razorback offense to a hitting percentage of .111. Harrison led the team in kills during the first set, as she recorded seven and hit at a .750 clip.
The second set began with Arkansas scoring the first point, followed by UT scoring the next five by way of two Harrison kills, a Robinson blast and two UA miscues to make the score 5-1. At 6-3, a block by Harrison and Cikra, along with an ace by Mullins extended to lead to five, 8-3.
UA would rally however, tying the game at ten after a 4-0 run of its own. At 10 apiece, Tennessee responded by rattling off three consecutive points by way of a kill from freshman Shealyn Kolosky, a Harrison kill and a block from Harrison and Robinson, to make the score 13-10.
At 15-13, the Lady Vols went on another 3-0 run and then a 5-0 run, scoring eight out of nine points to push the lead out to 22-15. A Razorback miscue started the five-point rally, as kills from Cikra, Robinson and sophomore Carly Sahagian ensued.
Back-to-back kills from Cikra and Robinson got the Lady Vols to within a point of winning the set, 24-15. Sahagian, who seems to have a knack for set ending points, put down a kill to give the Orange and White the set, 25-16, and a 2-0 match lead heading into the break.
Just like the opening set, the Tennessee defense remained stout in second frame, holding the Razorbacks to a -.278 hitting percentage. As a team, the Lady Vols had nine blocks in the set, including three from Harrison and two from Cikra. Offensively, Cikra and Sahagian combined for nine of UT’s 16 kills.
The third and what would be final set, was close early. The teams traded blows up until the score was 6-5 in Arkansas’ favor. Down a point, the Orange and White scored the next four and five of six to make the score 10-7 in their favor. Arkansas would not go out quietly, rebounding and going on a 4-0 rally to regain the lead, 11-10.
Not to be outdone, Tennessee used a pair of kills by Harrison and a Robinson ace to make the score 13-11. Tennessee would hold onto a two point lead at 14-12, 15-13, 16-14 and 17-15, when Kolosky served back-to-back aces to push Tennessee's lead to four.
Tennessee extended its lead to five, 20-15, after a miscue by Arkansas. The Razorback would cut the lead to three, 20-17, but kills by Pollmiller and Robinson again gave UT a five-point advantage at 22-17.
Cikra took over late, recording the last three Tennessee points on kills to give Tennessee the set, 25-19, and the 3-0 sweep versus Arkansas.
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No. 13 Gator Volleyball Finishes SEC Road Weekend with Sweep of Georgia
ATHENS, Ga. – In Florida’s best offensive performance of the 2011 season, the No. 13 Gator volleyball team downed SEC East rival Georgia in a 3-0 sweep, 26-24, 25-15, 25-23, in front of 1,797 fans at Ramsey Student Center on Sunday afternoon. With the win, Florida moves to 11-3 on the season and 4-1 in conference play as Georgia falls to 6-10 in 2011 and 2-4 in SEC competition.
The Gators hit a season-high .469 against the Bulldogs, the most in a 3-set match since Florida’s sweep of South Carolina State in the opening round of the 2010 NCAA Tournament, when the Gators hit at a .586 clip. Florida was led by seniors Kristy Jaeckel (Littleton, Colo.) and Kelly Murphy (Wilmington, Ill.), who registered 14 and 13 kills, respectively. Jaeckel hit a season-high .520 on the afternoon, adding another season-high with six blocks, contributing as many blocks individually as the Bulldogs did as a team. Murphy narrowly missed a triple-double with 13 kills, 20 assists and match-high nine digs, hitting at a .480 clip.
Junior middle blocker Betsy Smith (Atlanta, Ga.) led both teams in hitting percentage with an errorless .700, contributing seven kills on 10 swings. Florida only committed seven hitting errors for the entire match, including an astonishing second set which saw the Gators hit .720 with 18 kills on 25 attacks without committing a single hitting error. Georgia hit .305 on the afternoon, the highest opponent hitting percentage allowed since Florida’s Sweet 16 match against Purdue in the 2010 NCAA Tournament.
Georgia led in the early going, taking as much as a 3-point lead by jumping ahead at 4-1 to open the match. The teams continued to trade points before senior middle blocker Cassandra Anderson (Bakersfield, Calif.) stepped behind the service line and sparked a 6-1 Florida run to jump ahead, 17-13. A Jaeckel service ace put the Gators comfortably ahead at 19-14. The Bulldogs began to chip away at the Gator lead, forcing three straight Florida errors. Georgia’s Briana Bahr registered back-to-back kills to tie the set at 24-24 but a stuff block by Jaeckel and Smith gave the Gators set point and a kill from Murphy put Florida on top in the first set, 26-24.
The second set was all Florida, as the Gators gave an unbelievable offensive performance, hitting .720 with 18 kills on 25 swings and no errors in what is believed to be the highest offensive output in a set in the history of the program. Florida earned an 80% sideout percentage, as no Gator hitter operated below .500 in the second stanza. While the second set was mostly an offensive affair, the Gators’ aggressive serving aided their efforts, with four players responsible for serving at least four points each in the set. Florida led the entire set and gained a 10-point advantage when closing out the set on a kill from junior right-side setter Tangerine Wiggs (Seattle, Wash.) at 25-15.
The third set mimicked the second, as the Gators held the lead for the entire set, using prime third set performances from Florida’s pin hitters. At least one of the Gators’ outside and right-side hitters were involved on Florida’s first eight points and 17 of Florida’s 25 points in the set. Jaeckel turned on the afterburners out of intermission, with eight of her 14 kills coming in the third stanza. The Gators continued to push their way through the third stanza, leading by as many as three points. Georgia chipped away at Florida’s lead, pulling within one at 22-21 and even pushing the Gators on match point to get back within one at 24-23, but a quick set from sophomore setter Chanel Brown (Tempe, Ariz.) to Smith put the match away for Florida, 25-23.
Florida had three players in double figure points (Jaeckel: 18.0; Murphy 13.0; Smith: 10.0) and Brown led the way for the Gators with 24 assists.
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BULLDOGS FINISH WEEKEND SWEEP WITH FIVE-SET WIN AT OLE MISS
OXFORD, Miss. --- Mississippi State warmed up its hitting when it counted the most, in the deciding fifth set, as the Bulldogs (8-7, 3-3 SEC) bested instate SEC rival Ole Miss (5-9, 1-5 SEC) in a five-set thriller Sunday afternoon at UM’s Gillom Sports Center. State claimed the wild affair 15-25, 25-22, 25-15, 9-15, 15-12 to register the program’s first two-match SEC weekend road sweep.
“This was an exciting match for national television (ESPNU),” said Hazelwood. “Winning on the road is always tough in the SEC, especially when you’re playing you rival. But I’m so proud of the fight and the determination we showed today. It’s another step forward for the program and certainly a win that can help build momentum going forward.”
The win, MSU’s third in six league battles, matched State’s 2010 conference win total. It gives State back-to-back SEC road wins for the first time since 2007 and its first two-match SEC weekend road sweep.
Caitlin Rance, held without a kill in the fourth set, tallied three in the final stanza to finish with a match-high 16. The Kingwood, Texas, product backed that effort with 11 digs for her seventh double-double of the campaign.
The Bulldogs hit a match-best .450 with one attack error in the fifth set to complete the SEC weekend sweep on the road after blanking Alabama 3-0 in Tuscaloosa Friday.
Freshman Lainey Wyman registered her first career double-double with 10 kills and 10 digs and registered three blocks. Sophomore Dani McCree came off the bench to deliver a season-high 10 kills. Hannah Wilkinson notched a team-best five kills while Faith Steinwedell had nine kills and three blocks.
Ole Miss blitzed the Bulldogs with .414 hitting in winning the opening set before the Bulldogs, powered by an eight-kill second set by Rance, rebounded to gain the upper hand in the match with 25-22 and 25-15 wins in the second and third sets. Kara Morgan piled up 15 kills for Ole Miss and kept UM alive during an impressive 25-9 Rebel win the fourth set.
“It’s easy to get down after the other team gets the hot hand like that,” said Hazelwood. “But our kids were determined to finish the match and found a way to win in the fifth set.”
MSU trailed 3-2 in the early going of the fifth set but reeled off five straight points and took an 8-4 edge at the break. UM cut the lead to a point at 12-11 to force a Bulldog timeout, but Rance nailed a pair of kills late to seal the win.
Junior libero Hillary Parker paced State’s defense with 22 digs.UM setter Amanda Philpot reached double-double status with 40 assists and 13 digs whiel Morgan Springer finished with a match-high 26 digs.