| SEC Friday Volleyball RESULTS |
Kentucky 3, Ole Miss 1
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Florida 3, Arkansas 0
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LSU 3, South Carolina 1
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Georgia 3, Mississippi State 1
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Tennessee 3, Alabama 0
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Defensive Charge Paces UK to Win Over Ole Miss
LEXINGTON, Ky. – A balanced defensive effort and quality performances offensively guided the Kentucky volleyball team to a 3-1 (25-19, 19-25, 25-14, 25-19) win over visiting Ole Miss Friday night in front of 1,662 fans at Memorial Coliseum.
With the victory Kentucky has now totaled 13 wins in its last 14 matches to improve to 15-3 overall and 6-1 in Southeastern Conference action. Ole Miss drops to 5-10 overall and 1-6 in league play.
The UK defensive effort strung together 47 digs and combined for 11.5 blocks in the win. Junior libero Stephanie Klefot posted a match-high 19 digs to lead the back line, while senior Becky Pavan steered the way up front with five block assists. The reigning SEC Defensive Player of the Week, Whitney Billings, added nine scoops and a trio of blocks.
Junior Ashley Frazier charted her fourth consecutive match with 10 or more digs with a team-best 14 in tonight’s victory. Senior Ann Armes tossed down 12 hammers on a blazing .550 hitting clip. Billings was the third Wildcat in double-figures with 11 kills on a sparkling .400 hitting percentage.
Freshman Lauren O’Conner chipped in with nine kills to contribute to the offensive balance. Junior setter Christine Hartmann passed out 44 assists and added three kills of her own in directing the Blue and White offense to a .278 hitting clip and 55 kills.
Freshman Jackie Napper added eight digs, while sophomore Jessi Greenberg totaled five in the win.
Kentucky grabbed a 25-19 opening set victory with the Wildcats charting 13 kills on .296 hitting led by five kills from Frazier. Klefot had six digs in the opening stanza, and Frazier also added four blocks in the set. The frame featured five tie scores and a pair of lead changes.
Pavan opened the scoring with a kill and the teams exchanged points back and forth to begin the match. Kentucky opened a five point lead at 12-7 following an Ole Miss error. A kill from the Rebels tied things at 16, but Frazier answered with her fifth kill of the set and then the duo of Pavan and Billings teamed up for a block to give the home team a lead it would not yield. Pavan concluded the stanza in the same fashion as she jump-started play with a kill to the middle of the floor.
Ole Miss answered with a 25-19 set victory of its own to knot the score at one apiece going into the locker room.
The Wildcats responded with its best defensive performance of the match. Klefot had nine digs in the set and led the defensive charge that registered 16 digs in the frame. UK’s offense was equally impressive charting 17 kills on .359 hitting. Armes was at her best in the set with six kills on a .600 hitting percentage.
Ole Miss earned the early advantage, but consecutive kills from Armes and Billings gave the Wildcats an 8-6 lead it would not relinquish. Kentucky earned its largest lead of the set at 19-10 following a kill from Armes. O’Conner capped the set with a kill for the 25-14 victory.
The home team totaled five blocks and limited Ole Miss to a mere .065 hitting percentage in the match’s final frame as UK rolled to a 25-19 win. Kentucky posted 12 kills on a .360 hitting clip with O’Conner leading the way with four kills in the set. Napper guided the defensive effort with four scoops, while three different players posted a pair of blocks.
An Ole Miss error opened the scoring in the set. The Rebels fired back with a kill, but that would remain the only tie of the entire set. Kentucky had three blocks to stretch an early five-point edge at 6-1. Ole Miss fought back to within two at 16-14, but O’Conner answered following a break with her ninth kill of the match. A rifling shot down the right-line from the hand of Billings brought the raucous crowd to its feet for the winning point.
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GEORGIA POWERS PAST MISS. STATE, 3-1
STARKVILLE, Miss. --- Senior outside hitter Caitlin Rance registered her sixth 20-kill performance of the season Friday night but it was not enough to overcome a hot-hitting Georgia team that claimed a 3-1 SEC volleyball road win over Mississippi State (8-8/3-4 SEC) at the Newell-Grissom Building.
Rance tallied a match-leading 20 kills, nine of those coming in a 26-24 MSU win in the opening set. But Georgia (8-10/4-4 SEC), hitting .336 for the night, roared back to take the next three sets 25-19, 25-15, 25-18 and stymie MSU’s bid for a school record-matching third consecutive SEC win.
State bolted to a 6-2 lead to open the match and held a 21-16 advantage in the late stages of the opening set before Georgia went on a late e 8-2 run to forge a 24-23 advantage. Lainey Wyman delivered a kill that knotted the score and with a service ace put State on top 25-24. That set the stage for a set-clinching kill by Rance.
UGA used a 6-2 spree to overcome an early 5-2 MSU lead in the second stanza and cruised on to a match-evening 25-19 win. State led only briefly in the early going of a 25-15 loss in the third set as Brittany Northcutt and Ann Dylla delivered four kills each to match State’s entire kill production in the third stanza.
Georgia pulled away from a close early battle in the fourth set and warmed up the evening with .419 hitting as Dylla and Kathleen Luft combined for 11 kills in a match-clinching 25-18 Georgia win.
Dylla and Northcutt tallied 15 kills and four blocks each to pace Georgia, which also got 14 kills from Luft and 10 more from Elizabeth Reid.
On a .244 hitting night, Rance finished with 20 kills, her eighth career performance of 20 kills or better. The Kingwood, Texas, product, playing in her 100th career match, raised her team-leading season kills total to 254 and her career mark to 949 kills. Rance, who notched her 100th career block in the match, narrowly missed double-double status, finishing the night with eight digs.
Junior Faith Steinwedell was next for State with nine kills and 10 digs, while freshman Lainey Wyman chipped in eight kills and three blocks
Junior libero Hillary Parker paced the MSU defense with 13 digs. Georgia’s Allison Summers took match honors on defense with 16 digs.
Georgia was dominant at the net, amassing an 11-5 edge in total team blocking. Reid and Briana carded a match-leading five knock-downs each.
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Gators Sweep Hogs for Florida’s 800th Program Win
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – AVCA National Player of the Week Kristy Jaeckel (Littleton, Colo.) registered her 10th straight double-digit kill performance with 15 kills on .433 hitting, as No. 13 Florida swept Arkansas, 3-0 (25-21, 25-20, 29-27), on Friday evening. The Gators (12-3, 5-1) earned their 800th program win and continue to have the highest winning percentage in the NCAA over the last two decades. Arkansas fell to 10-7 on the season and 2-4 in conference play, having lost to every SEC East opponent the Razorbacks have faced in 2011.
Florida hit .315 in the match and continued their streak of outhitting their opponents in 2011, as the Gators have won the hitting battle in all 15 matches this season. The Orange and Blue were relentless defensively at the net, 9.0-7.0, having outblocked all six of their SEC opponents so far.
Junior middle blocker Betsy Smith (Atlanta, Ga.) also had a hot hand, hitting an errorless .750 with nine kills on 12 swings. Smith has hit above .700 on four occasions this season and leads the Gators with a .493 hitting percentage against SEC opponents.
Junior right-side Tangerine Wiggs (Seattle, Wash.) struck a balance on both sides of the ball, notching nine kills on a .368 hitting clip while posting a match-high six blocks against the Razorbacks. Senior middle blocker Cassandra Anderson (Bakersfield, Calif.) also had a great night defensively, registering five blocks, as well as a .400 hitting percentage with four kills and no errors. Senior right-side setter Kelly Murphy (Wilmington, Ill.) led Florida with 22 assists and eight digs on the evening.
The Razorbacks established their presence in the O’Dome early in the first frame, taking a 3-1 lead. The Orange and Blue fought back, establishing four ties, but the Razorbacks kept finding the gaps in the Gator defense. Florida took its first lead at 12-11 due to an Arkansas error, but the Razorbacks roughed their way back on top, 14-13. The momentum changed for Florida after a Ferrell blast into the center of the Arkansas defense drove Florida on a 4-0 run, taking the lead, 19-17. A Murphy service ace forced the Razorbacks into a timeout, but Arkansas battled back, tying the score at 19. An Anderson kill ignited another 4-0 run, pushing Florida ahead at 23-19. Wiggs delivered the final kill of the set, 25-21.
Arkansas took an initial 2-0 lead to begin the second set, but the Gators fought back to take the lead, 4-3. Brown set Smith up for the kill that would drive Florida on a 6-0 run with Unroe behind the service line, 12-5. The Razorbacks were unable to defend against the Gator offense, and a ball handling error sparked a 4-0 run that pushed the Gators further ahead, 16-8. Arkansas went on a 3-0 run, but back-to-back kills from Jaeckel shifted the momentum back towards the Gators, 19-13. The Orange and Blue shut the door on Arkansas with a Murphy bullet to left back, 25-20, giving them the 2-0 advantage going into intermission.
The Gators and Razorbacks came out of the break dueling point-for-point, tying every possible score until 5-5. Neither team could gain more than two points over the other until a Florida attacking error ignited an Arkansas 5-0 run, pushing them ahead of the Orange and Blue, 18-15. A Razorback setting error sparked a 4-0 run for the Gators, as Florida gained the advantage at 21-19. Arkansas wasn’t letting down, tying the set at 24. The Razorbacks had three set points but couldn’t capitalize, as Wiggs played a part in the final two points for the Gators. Smith and Wiggs teamed up for a stuff block on Roslandy Acosta to set up match point, 28-27. Wiggs then slammed a kill down the line to give the Gators their 10th sweep of the season, 29-27.
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Tennessee Sweeps Alabama
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The No. 19 University of Tennessee Lady Vol volleyball team kept its Southeastern Conference record perfect, as it defeated Alabama in straight sets, 25-23, 25-22, 25-15, on Friday evening in front of 1,999 fans at the annual “Dig for the Cure” match at Thompson-Boling Arena.
Playing in front of the second largest crowd in Lady Vol history, the Big Orange (13-2, 7-0) fought off a pesky Alabama squad to extend its winning streak to 10, which is the longest since 2004, when the squad rattled off 14 straight. The crowd was in for much more than volleyball, as it gave $2,650 dollars to the Susan G. Komen Foundation, which is devoted to breast cancer research.
The team slugged a whopping .340 against the Crimson Tide, led by sophomore Kelsey Robinson and junior Leslie Cikra. Robinson registered a team-high 15 kills and had 13 digs to notch her 11th double-double on the season. Cikra added 13 kills, hitting a team best .524, as she converted 13 kills on 21 swings to set a career-best in hitting percentage.
Defensively, freshman Shealyn Kolosky caused problems for Alabama, sending a team-high six Crimson Tide attacks back. Her six blocks ties a career-high, as she also recorded six against Maryland earlier this season at the Comcast Lady Vol Classic in August.
Along with Robinson reaching double figures in digs, sophomore Ellen Mullins hit the double digit mark after digging up 12. This season, the Nashville native has recorded double-digit digs in every conference match.
Freshman setter Mary Pollmiller had 39 of UT’s 44 assists, while dropping in three kills of her own and having five digs. Sophomore Carly Sahagian and freshman Tiffany Baker, who was sidelined briefly with an ankle injury, also blasted four kills apiece on the night.
Tennessee looked dominant early in set one, jumping out to a quick 5-1 advantage over UA off of a pair of kills by junior DeeDee Harrison, a Robinson blast and two Crimson Tide miscues. With the score at 5-2, the Lady Vols would score the next three to extend their lead to 6, 8-2, as Cikra and Kolosky both registered kills.
Tennessee would hold a five-point lead over Alabama at 11-6 and 14-9, but the Tide wouldn’t go out without a fight. With the score at 14-9, Alabama went on a 3-0 rally to cut the lead to two, 14-12. After a kill by Robinson to make the score 15-12, UA would score the next two to cut the deficit to one. Tennessee responded however, scoring the next five to make the score 20-14. During that span, Cikra had a pair of kills, Robinson added another blast and Cikra and Kolosky combined for a block.
The Lady Vols would push the lead out to seven, 23-16, after kills from Sahagian and Kolosky. Alabama rallied to score the next six to cut into the Orange and White lead, 23-22. A kill from Robinson got UT within a point of taking the set at 24-22, and she also ended the set with another kill after Alabama again cut the deficit to one at 24-23. The Robinson kill gave the Lady Vols the first set, 25-23.
The second frame was close from the beginning to end. Three kills from Cikra, plus a pair of kills and an ace from Robinson gave the Big Orange an early 6-3 advantage. Freshman Nikki Brice followed that up with an ace of her own, making the score 7-3, but again the Crimson Tide fought back, scoring the next three to make the score 7-6 in favor of UT.
The second set score was tied on nine occasions, as the teams were knotted up at 10, 11 and 12 before Alabama took its first lead of the set at 13-12. Three miscues from UA propelled Tennessee into a 15-13 lead, but Alabama would again tie the set up at 16 and 17. A Robinson kill and a UA attack error gave the Lady Vols a 19-17 lead, but Alabama even the score up again at 19 apiece after scoring two in a row.
The final tie of the second frame would be at 20-20, as the Lady Vols went on to score the next three points by way of a Baker kill, a Cikra kill and a setting error by Alabama. UA would get within two twice, 23-21 and 24-22, but a cross court laser by Cikra ended the Tide’s hopes of winning the set, giving UT the second set, 25-22, and a 2-0 match advantage.
The Crimson Tide notched one more kill and outhit UT in the second set, but eight errors destroyed any chance for the team to even the match up at one heading into the break.
Tennessee looked stellar in the third and final set, hitting an astounding .448 to go along with 15 kills en route to a 25-15 set victory and match win.
With the score even at two, the Lady Vols scored the next five points of the set and never looked back. A service error sent long by Alabama ignited the UT run, as back-to-back blocks by Cikra and Kolosky, plus a kill by Sahagian and a UA ball handling error gave UT a 7-2 lead. Alabama would cut the UT lead to three twice, 9-6 and 10-7, but could not surpass the Lady Vols.
Up four, 12-8, five straight points from the Big Orange extended the lead to 17-8. During that stretch, Harrison had two blocks, one being solo, along with a pair of kills from Cikra. Three kills by Robinson pushed the UT lead out to 10 on three occasions, 21-11, 22-12 and 23-13, while a Baker blast made the score 24-14. After an Alabama point, the Crimson Tide sent the ensuing serve into the net to give Tennessee its 13th win and 10th straight victory of the season.
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LSU Upends South Carolina
COLUMBIA, S.C. – Desiree Elliott, Madie Jones and Michele Williams combined to blast 50 of LSU’s 62 kills for the match and lifted the Tiger volleyball team to a 3-1 victory [25-21, 23-25, 25-18, 25-18] over South Carolina Friday at USC’s Volleyball Competition Facility.
LSU (11-5, 4-2 SEC) put a two-match losing streak in the rearview mirror and won its sixth consecutive meeting versus the Gamecocks (9-7, 0-6 SEC).
Williams pounded home 11 of her season-best 18 kills during sets one and four, while Elliott equaled a season-high with 17 kills on a .343 hitting percentage and matched a career-best with five digs. Jones tacked on 15 kills and added two blocks.
Helen Boyle chipped in seven kills and sprawled out for 15 digs to nearly pick up her fourth double-double. Making only her second career start, Marissa Maas garnered a career-best four blocks and popped four kills.
Malorie Pardo handed out a match-high 50 assists to go along with 12 digs to claim her sixth double-double of the season.
LSU’s back row aided the Tigers to a 65 percent sideout efficiency and grinded its way to an 84-72 edge in the digs department. Meghan Mannari and Lauren Waclawczyk corralled a team-high 19 digs. For Waclawczyk, the 19 scoops were a season-high.
South Carolina was paced by Cara Howley and Teresa Stenlund, who knocked 12 and 10 kills, respectively. Paige Wheeler reeled in a match-best 25 digs for the Gamecocks.
The opening set featured a match-high 10 ties and four lead changes. Ahead 17-16, LSU seized control of the frame and connected three straight points. Boyle belted a kill and Mannari slapped an ace sandwiched between a USC attack error to make it 20-16. The Gamecocks trimmed the deficit in half on three occasions, the latest at 22-20, but Williams had the final answer to vault LSU to a 25-21 triumph. The Tigers connected for a match-best .342 hitting clip and converted on 18-of-22 sideout attempts.
South Carolina regrouped behind six of the first seven points of set two. The Gamecocks also made the most of 11 LSU hitting miscues. Deadlocked at 19 apiece, USC ran off the next four points capped by a Stenlund kill to build a 23-19 advantage. The Tigers charged back to 24-23 on a Williams spike, but Stenlund delivered a sideout kill to even the match at one set each.
Out of the locker room, LSU broke open an 11-10 lead in the third set and used a strong finishing kick with 14 of the final 22 points to win going away, 25-18. Pardo set a balanced attack as Boyle, Elliott, Jones and Williams each provided two kills during the spurt.
The Tigers continued their strong play and raced out 13-5 advantage in set four after consecutive spikes from Elliott and Williams. South Carolina fired back with a spirited charge and got back to within 18-16. LSU forced the Gamecocks into three hitting errors coupled with two Elliott and Williams spikes to come away with a 25-18 triumph.