| SEC VOLLEYBALL RESULTS |
Kentucky 3, Florida 2
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Auburn 3, Alabama 2
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Ole Miss 3, Georgia 0
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Tennessee 3, South Carolina 0
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LSU 3, Mississippi State 2
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Wildcats Down Florida Behind Dominating Fifth Set
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The No. 24 ranked Kentucky volleyball team used a dominating fifth set to take down its second top-20 ranked opponent at home this season in No. 13 Florida Sunday afternoon in front of 1,725 fans. UK captured a 3-2 (25-23, 19-25, 25-21, 17-25, 15-9) victory over the visiting Gators to keep the Southeastern Conference title within reach.
With the win, Kentucky improves to 21-4 overall on the year and 12-2 in league play. Florida falls to 17-5 overall and 10-3 in league action. Kentucky’s other win over a top-20 ranked foe in the friendly confines of Memorial Coliseum came over then ranked No. 18 Tennessee in mid-October.
Kentucky’s offense put together its best performance of the day during the most critical of times with 10 kills on a sizzling .444 hitting clips in the final frame for a 15-9 win. UK’s defense limited the nation’s leading attacking team to a mere six kills and just a .130 hitting clip in the decisive set.
Freshman Lauren O’Conner began the scoring with a kill, but the Gators would respond with consecutive points. Junior Christine Hartmann then notched her seventh kill of the match to tie the score at two apiece. UK stretched its lead to two at 5-3 following consecutive hitting errors by the visitors. Florida once again fought back and tied the score at seven, but it would be all UK from there. O’Conner tossed down her second kill of the stanza to give UK the 8-7 edge going into the switch.
The trio of O’Conner, sophomore Whitney Billings and senior Becky Pavan teamed up for a block to give UK a two-point edge at 9-7. Florida would respond with a kill, but Billings answered with a kill of her own. With the score at 10-9, the Gators served the ball long to give the Wildcats another two-point advantage. O’Conner stepped to the service line and led the final charge. UK rattled off the final four points with kills from Hartmann and Pavan and then an ace from O’Conner gave UK match-point. Pavan brought the crowd to its feet with a final kill to lift the Wildcats to its third victory over a ranked foe this season.
“Florida puts a lot of pressure on you with their serve, and you have to weather the storm,” UK coach Craig Skinner said. “I thought we really did a nice job of passing the ball in the fifth game. It was a huge reason why we were successful. Our defense was awfully good. It broke down a little bit at times, but it was there when we needed it.”
Billings totaled a season-high 17 kills and added 12 digs in her third double-double of the season. Hartmann missed on a near triple-double with 46 assists, 11 digs and eight kills. She led a UK offense to 65 kills on .227 hitting with five players notching eight or more kills in the match.
Junior Ashley Frazier posted 16 kills on an impressive .342 hitting clip. She has reached double-figure kill efforts in all but two SEC matches this season.
“(Florida) schemes a lot,” Skinner said. “They put two blockers where the ball is going quite often. We knew that. We weren’t as successful getting the ball to the people we needed to at times, but the nice thing about what (Ashley) Frazier and (Whitney) Billings did was they had a lot of kills, but they didn’t error very much.”
Pavan totaled nine kills and added a team-high seven blocks for the Blue and White. O’Conner totaled eight kills, with two coming in the final set. Senior Gretchen Giesler chipped in with five kills to aid the offensive output.
Junior Stephanie Klefot led the back-line defensive effort with 28 digs which matches a season-high. Sophomore Jessi Greenberg totaled five digs and freshman Jackie Napper added four for UK.
Kentucky opened the match by earning a 25-23 opening set victory. With the first set win and a final outcome in favor of the Wildcats, it marks the 19th time this season that UK has won when winning the opening stanza.
Kentucky struck for 18 kills on .250 hitting in the opening frame with Billings and Pavan both striking for five kills to begin the match. An erroneous attack by the visitors marked the first point of the set, followed by a kill from Pavan to give the Wildcats an early 2-0 edge. The Gators stormed back and opened up a five-point lead at 10-5.
UK was unfazed however, and clawed its way back to eventually knot the score at 11 following three straight kills from the hand of Billings. The final tied score came at 21 before Billings, Pavan and Hartmann combined for three straight kills. Florida fended off the home team for back-to-back set points, but a kill from Pavan ended the late rally to lift UK to the first frame win.
Florida responded with a 25-17 second set win the even the match at one set apiece going into the locker room. The Gators charted 17 kills on a match-high .341 clip with UK managing just 11 hammers on .143 hitting.
Out of the break, the Wildcats opened up an early 4-0 lead and never looked back. UK rolled to a 25-21 third set win behind five kills from Frazier in the frame as UK totaled 14 on .231 hitting. Florida managed just 12 kills on a .184 hitting clip.
Florida forced the decisive fifth frame with a 25-17 fourth set win. The Gators forced the Wildcats into six hitting errors in the set.
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Auburn Defeats Alabama
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - Senior Kelly Fidero had a career-high 27 kills and 14 digs to lead the Auburn volleyball team to a season sweep of rival Alabama with a 3-2 (22-25, 25-23, 25-18, 18-25, 16-14) win over the Crimson Tide on Sunday afternoon at Foster Auditorium.
The Tigers (10-14, 4-10 SEC) snapped a seven-match SEC losing streak, but continued another streak with their fifth consecutive win over Alabama (11-14, 4-10 SEC), dating back to the 2009 season.
"That's a big one for us," Auburn head coach Rick Nold said. "Obviously we've been on a little bit of a slide. We talked about...the way for us to change that was to come out with a lot of energy. We outdug them by 24 balls; I thought that was a big key to the match."
Fidero shattered her previous career-best of 20 kills as she put down 27 attacks along with a career-best 14 digs to lead a Tiger attack. It was the first 20+ kill performance by a Tiger since Morgan Johns had 24 in Auburn's win at Alabama last season.
Sophomore Kathia Rud, making her first start since the season's seventh match, recorded a career-best 16 kills as well, hitting at a .394 clip with just three errors on the day.
Chelsea Wintzinger had her third double-double of the year with 42 assists and 10 digs, and while Christina Solverson added 22 helpers along with a career-high three kills as the Tigers went back to a 6-2 offensive look. Sarah Wroblicky led the Tigers with 28 digs, while Sarah Bullock added 20 digs to go along with eight kills. Chloe Rowand, seeing her first action in three weeks, led the Tigers with five blocks.
Auburn dominated most statistical categories, recording 79 kills to Alabama's 55 and posting 88 digs to the Tide's 64. The Tigers hit .269 as a team against Alabama's .220, but Alabama had seven service aces while Auburn had none. The Tide also had one more block than the Tigers.
Alabama was led by Kayla Fitterer and Shelbi Goode with 14 kills apiece; Fitterer also had 17 digs for a double-double.
Auburn out-hit Alabama in the first set .367-.333 and had 17 kills to Bama's 12, but three Alabama service aces proved to be the difference in a 25-22 first-set loss. Auburn had to alter its strategy early when Camila Jersonsky left the game with an apparent injury, and it led to a slow start as the Tide jumped out to a 13-8 lead. But Auburn would fight back behind three Fidero kills and pull within three at 16-13 before the Tide once again extended their lead to five points. Auburn again fought back with kills from Rud and Fidero to make it 22-20, but Alabama would hold on for the victory.
The second set saw the Tigers much more in sync as they jumped out to an 8-5 lead thanks to a pair of kills each from Fidero and Rud, along with a block from Fidero and Rowand. Auburn would lead by as many as five, but the Tide would constantly chip away. After Alabama rallied to tie the score at 17-all, Fidero contributed two straight kills to give Auburn a two-point lead at 19-17. The Tide would eventually tie things up three more times, the last coming at 22-22, before kills from McDonald and Fidero gave Auburn set point at 24-22. An apparent game-ending swing from Fidero was nullified on a net violation, but she made up for it on the next attack to give Auburn a 25-23 win.
Auburn jumped out to a 10-5 lead in the third set before Alabama started mounting a comeback. But the turning point came when a ridiculous rally at 15-14 ended with Fidero finally getting her third attempt of the point to the floor to give Auburn a 16-14 lead. A block from Fidero and Rowand made it 17-14 and forced a Bama timeout. From there, the Tigers would pull away, finshing on a 7-4 run to take a 25-18 win in the third set.
The fourth set was all Alabama as the Tide took a 25-18 win to send things to a deciding set. The Tide struck first in the fourth set, pulling out to a 7-3 lead early on to force an Auburn timeout. Auburn would close the gap to one point on two different occasions, getting kills from Fidero to make it 12-11 and later 14-13, but the Tide advantage would swell to four points at 19-15 after a Bama kill and an Auburn error. Auburn hit a match-worst .176 in the set while Alabama went for a .414 clip, the best of any set in the match.
Set five was a tightly-contested, back-and-forth affair that saw the lead change hands multiple times. Auburn took an 8-6 lead as the teams switched ends; that lead grew to 11-8 after a kill from Rud forced an Alabama timeout. But the Tide would score three straight to knot the score at 11 apiece. The Tide would eventually take the lead at 13-12 on an Auburn error, but a kill from Fidero and a block from Rowand and Rhude gave the Tigers a set point attempt at 14-13. Cortney Warren would get a kill to tie the score at 14-14, but another kill from Fidero and a block from Bulloock and Rowand finished off the Tide with a 16-14 Tiger win.
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MIDDLES LEAD REBELS TO 3-0 WIN OVER GEORGIA
OXFORD, Miss. – The middles got the call on Sunday and responded as sophomore Kellie Goss and senior Regina Thomas helped lead Ole Miss (8-14, 4-10 SEC) to a shutout win over Georgia (9-15, 5-9 SEC) by a score of 3-0 (25-19, 25-17, 25-23).
Goss hit a career-high .778 on Sunday as she went 7-for-9 with no errors and four blocks. She was joined on the attack by Thomas who put down a team-high 10 kills and hit .643 as she went 10-for-14 with one error on the afternoon. Thomas also added three blocks in the outing.
“I’m impressed with the team and how we came out determined to put together solid outings in back-to-back matches,” said Ole Miss head coach Joe Getzin. “We were really focused on not letting up. Our first contact was good with our serving and our passing. That enabled us to get the balls to our middles and they really came through for us.
“A really good first contact is critical for us,” Getzin continued. “Now we have to take it on the road and build on what we’ve done the last three matches.”
Ole Miss has won three straight contests, including a road win at LSU last weekend before defeating Auburn on Friday night and the win over Georgia on Sunday.
The first set opened with the two squads seeking momentum as the Rebels moved in front first before Georgia responded with a run to take a 5-4 lead. That one-point advantage would be the only time Ole Miss trailed in the set, as the Rebels used an answering rally to push out to an 8-5 lead that sent Georgia into a timeout.
Ole Miss continued to build on the lead from there, pressing its advantage out to eight points at 16-8 and sending Georgia into a second timeout. The Bulldogs would make a late run, but Ole Miss closed out the set behind the flawless attack of Goss and Thomas 25-19. The two middles combined to go 7-for-9 in the frame with no attack error.
The second set saw the Rebels run out to a 5-1 lead before the Bulldogs would put together a run to match the early intensity of the home team and tie the set at 11. A Rebel attack error on the next play gave the Bulldogs the lead and Ole Miss called a timeout to regroup.
Ole Miss scored out of the timeout to even the match at 12 and pushed back out in the lead by as much as eight before closing out the second set 25-17. The Rebels held a two set advantage heading into the break in action.
Georgia answered in the third, stepping up the intensity for the third straight set and rattled off an early run that put the Bulldogs up by as much as three points. For the third straight set, the Rebels stepped up the focus on their side of the net and erased the Bulldog advantage with a run that tied the score at 13.
Ole Miss grabbed back-to-back scores out of the timeout to take the lead in a nip-and-tuck battle down the stretch. Georgia tied the set at 21, forcing Ole Miss into a timeout before taking a one point lead on the next play. Again, the Rebels answered the challenge and scored four of the next five points to take the match with a 25-23 win in set three.
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Lady Vols Sweep South Carolina
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - Coming off an emotion win just two days prior over No. 13 Florida, the No.20 University of Tennessee volleyball team showed no signs of a letdown, sweeping South Carolina, 25-13, 25-20, 25-14, on Sunday afternoon at Thompson-Boling Arena.
Tennessee (20-3, 13-1) hit at a season-high mark of .446 against the Gamecocks (11-12, 2-11), while limiting the USC offense to a mere .108 clip. In the match, four Lady Vols hit over .400.
"I was happy that we were able to come back from an emotional win on Friday and get right on task with South Carolina," Lady Vol head coach Rob Patrick said. "The players did a tremendous job of taking a game plan in one day and implementing it at a really high level against a South Carolina team that was playing with a lot of confidence. I was a little worried in terms of playing a USC team that is playing well right now, playing with confidence, and us maybe being drained."
Freshman Tiffany Baker hit a career-best .519 against the Gamecocks, as she belted a match-high 15 kills, while only committing one error on 27 swings. She also registered her third double-double on the year and second of the week, as she added 12 digs to go along with her 15 kills.
Kelsey Robinson also notched a double-double versus South Carolina, as the sophomore tallied 13 kills and 10 digs. On the season, the sophomore now has 17 double-doubles, which is the best in the Southeastern Conference.
"The person who always makes us go is Kelsey Robinson," Patrick said. "Kelsey has been carrying us through matches and winning. She is going to be very successful now that Tiffany is playing so well. Tiffany Baker, what a great way to get into the season. She started the season just trying to get comfortable in our offense, learning the collegiate game and that type of stuff. We feel really confident that we have two hitters in six rotations that we can give the ball to and they can take big swings, even against two blocks and get a kill. That is going to open up some things for us."
Junior Leslie Cikra connected on eight of her 11 swings to hit a match-high .636. That clip is a career-high for her, as her previous best clip of .524 came earlier this season against Alabama. DeeDee Harrison, also a junior, hit at a clip of .417 for the match, as the Nashville native recorded seven kills and a match-high four blocks, two of which were solo.
Ellen Mullins has now registered double digits in digs in all 14 conferences matches this season after she dug up 11 against USC. Setter Mary Pollmiller again paced the team in assists, dishing out 41 helpers, while adding a kill of her own. Freshman Nikki Brice had two of Tennessee's four serving aces.
South Carolina opened the first frame by scoring three of the first four points to take a 3-1 lead. Back-to-back kills from Harrison and Cikra knotted the match up at three. Down a point, 4-3, a Cikra blast, a service ace by Brice and a kill from Baker propelled UT into the lead, 6-4, which the team would not surrender.
Up one, 6-5, the Big Orange notched five straight to take a commanding 11-5 lead. During that span, Robinson had a pair of kills, Baker had a kill and USC committed two attack errors. Keeping that six point lead at 17-11, a kill from Cikra gave UT the serve and a 17-12 advantage. With Brice at the service line, Tennessee would rattle off six straight, making the score 24-11, as Robinson and Baker each blasted two kills; Brice added an ace and USC committed an error.
Baker ended the set with a kill to give the Lady Vols a quick 1-0 advantage in the match. The Lady Vols had 17 kills in the set, led by five from Baker and four from Robinson and Cikra. UT had a hitting percentage of .615, while USC hit a mere .037. Harrison and Robinson accounted for UT's first four points in the second frame, as the duo each had a kill and a solo block to give the Orange and White a 4-2 lead. South Carolina would tie the match at six, as the two teams traded points before USC took an 11-9 lead.
A laser by Robinson and a USC attack error knotted the set at 11 apiece. UT regained the lead at 15-13, after Baker blasted back-to-back kills. Up just one, 17-16, a combined block between Robinson and freshman Shealyn Kolosky and three Gamecock miscues boosted Tennessee to a 21-16 lead.
The squads would trade the final eight points of the set before a bullet from Cikra ended the set at 25-20. Baker added another five kills in the frame, which featured 10 ties and five lead changes.
For the third consecutive set, South Carolina scored the first point, before a Baker shot and a USC ball handling error evened the third set at two all. UT would grab its first lead of the frame at 4-3, after a Cikra kill and a block by Kolosky and Baker. The Gamecocks would go on to score four of the next five, grabbing a 7-5 advantage.
Kills from Robinson and Baker quickly evened things up at seven. A 3-0 run, featuring two kills from Robinson and one from Harrison made the score 11-9. Tennessee would never look back. Up one, 11-10, two kills from Cikra and a block Cikra and Harrison extended the Lady Vol lead to four, 14-10.
With a 15-12 lead, the Big Orange scored nine of the next 10 to grab a 24-13 lead. In a 5-0 spurt, Baker had three kills to go along with two Gamecock errors. In a 3-0 run that occurred with the score at 20-13, Kolosky connected on an absolute rocket, Robinson followed with a kill of her own, USC had a miscue and an ace by junior Jasmine Brown made the score 24-13.
South Carolina scored the ensuing point, but a Robinson kill ended the set, 25-14, and gave the Orange and White a straight set victory. The triumph marks the fourth-straight season that UT has won at least 20 matches, and keeps the Lady Vols a perfect 8-0 at Thompson-Boling Arena.
"We take pride in playing at home and playing at a high level at home," Patrick explained. "Our crowd helps our team get energy and it is no secret that we have a great winning percentage at home and it is because of the great crowds that we have. We are very excited about finishing the majority of our matches at home."
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LSU Volleyball Overcomes Two-Set Hole at Mississippi State
STARKVILLE, Miss. – Michele Williams powered home 14 of her 16 kills and connected for a .357 hitting percentage following the first set to lift the LSU volleyball team from a two-set deficit and down a match-point to snatch a 3-2 comeback victory [15-25, 26-28, 26-24, 25-15, 15-11] over Mississippi State Sunday at the Newell-Grissom Building.
LSU (15-8, 8-5 SEC) snapped a two-match losing streak and moved into a first-place tie with Arkansas in the SEC Western Division race. It also marked the first time that the Tigers erased a 2-0 hole going back to the Kentucky match in October 2007, a span of 16 consecutive outings when behind by two sets.
In the process, Williams became the 18th player in program history to surpass 1,000 career kills. She is the first Tiger to accomplish the impressive feat in the current 25-point rally scoring format. LSU has had five players reach the milestone since 2007.
“Michele came in with a different level of determination during today’s match,” head coach Fran Flory said. “She wasn’t feeling her best, but she battled through like a true senior does. I couldn’t be more proud of Michele not only for that but for reaching 1,000 career kills. It’s a testament to all of her hard work. Michele is a special player, and I’ve enjoyed the opportunity to coach her. She’s been a difference maker for our program and a big part of our success.”
“Michele is a great senior and works extremely hard,” Jones said. “She knows exactly what to say to get the most out of everyone on the team. We’re extremely happy for her, and we know she’ll continue to play her best when the matches count the most at the end of the season.”
Madie Jones and Desiree Elliott also played gigantic roles in the comeback. Jones ripped 12 of her team-best 18 kills on a .385 clip, while Elliott provided eight of her 12 spikes during the final three sets. Elliott garnered a match-high six blocks from the front line.
“Our team certainly has a lot of trust in Madie,” Flory said. “She got off to a little bit of a slow start, but we were able to get her a rhythm starting in the third set. The key was finding her the right swings in the right tempo. When she’s good, Madie is awfully difficult to defend.”
Malorie Pardo handed out a match-high 55 assists to go along with 10 kills to secure her team-leading ninth double-double of the season. She also popped a career-high three kills.
Helen Boyle and Nicole Willis tacked on eight kills each. For Willis, she tallied seven of her eight spikes during sets three and five. Boyle grinded out 13 digs and added two aces.
“This team was in the middle of a confidence crisis, and we needed a match like this to break out of it,” Flory said. “To be able to fight through and endure against a very good Mississippi State team on its homecourt, I can’t say enough about how determined our kids were in the later stages of this match.”
LSU’s back row registered a 69-53 advantage in the digs department. Sam Delahoussaye led the charge with 14 scoops whereas Meghan Mannari corralled 13 digs for the Tigers.
Mississippi State’s (10-13, 5-9 SEC) Caitlin Rance turned in a strong all-around effort. She blasted a match-high 22 kills, notched 11 digs and garnered five blocks. Hannah Wilkinson cranked 11 kills on a .417 hitting ratio. During LSU’s 3-0 win earlier this season, the Tigers limited Rance and Wilkinson to a combined 10 kills.
All square at 10 apiece after MSU tallied three straight points in the deciding fifth set, LSU bounced back behind a critical Boyle kill off the Bulldog block following a timeout. Elliott and Pardo stuffed Rance on the next play. The Tigers then forced Rance into another hitting mistake to build a 13-10 edge. After a MSU sideout, Jones slapped consecutive kills to vault LSU to the winners circle by a 15-11 margin.
“We definitely had some confidence issues coming in after we lost two matches in a row,” Jones said. “This win was a total team effort with different players stepping up at different times being the go-to. That’s what so great about our team that we’re all willing and capable of taking on that big load. It was huge for us to turn it around. We need to learn from this experience and excel from here-on-out. We’ll have to fight hard and play together down the stretch to reach our goals.”
Facing a two-set deficit and a 23-20 hole during the third frame, LSU ran off six of the final seven points to garner a gritty 26-24 victory. After a MSU setting error, the Tigers pulled even at 23-23 after a Jones kill and a Boyle ace. The Bulldogs arrived at match-point following a Boyle service miscue, but Jones fired back with a sideout spike to deadlock the tally at 24-24. Willis and Williams teamed for a block, while Williams ripped a kill to finish off set three.
LSU rode the momentum into the fourth stanza. The Tigers ripped off 10 consecutive points and turned a one-point margin at 7-6 into a commanding 16-7 advantage. LSU’s defense held MSU to four kills coupled with a match-best nine hitting errors for the frame.
The Bulldogs claimed the first two sets 25-15 and 28-26 highlighted by a .444 attack clip in the opening stanza. MSU also turned away three second set points and forced LSU into a combined 21 hitting errors during the first two frames.