| volleyBALL RESULTS |
Kentucky 3, Texas A&M 0
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Florida 3, Missouri 1
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Ohio State 3, Tennessee 2
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16th-Ranked Wildcats Sweep Their Way to Sweet 16
COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The 16th-ranked Kentucky volleyball team rolled to a 3-0 (25-18, 25-21, 25-19) sweep of Texas A&M to advance to the Sweet 16 for the second time in three seasons under the direction of Craig Skinner. Kentucky garnered a season-high 17 kills from sophomore Whitney Billings and the 2011 senior class charted its 100th career victory in dominating-fashion.
“We’re just really excited, not just because we won the match, but because of how we performed tonight,” Skinner said. “It was a heck of a team effort. For whatever reason I had a feeling on the way over here on the bus that we were pretty focused and ready to go, and the team definitely proved that thought right.”
Kentucky advances to the Sweet 16 and will return home to the friendly confines of Memorial Coliseum Dec. 9-10 as Lexington is a designated host site for the NCAA Regionals. UK’s opponent is yet to be determined, but the opening round matches begin on Friday night at 5 p.m. ET. Kentucky has notched 17 consecutive victories in its home gym.
UK improves to 28-5 on the season with the victory, while Texas A&M’s season ends with a 23-8 mark.
Billings led the charge with a season-high 17 kills on a .400 hitting clip. Junior Ashley Frazier contributed 14 kills on a sizzling .522 percentage. Senior Becky Pavan totaled eight kills and posted a team-high eight blocks in the win. Junior setter Christine Hartmann dished out 44 assists and added six digs.
Freshman Lauren O’Conner tallied seven kills and a career-high five blocks, while senior Ann Armes added four and four digs in the winning effort.
Junior Stephanie Klefot recorded 17 digs and now has achieved the new single-season UK record for digs in a season with 587 on the season. Freshman Jackie Napper and sophomore Jessi Greenberg totaled six and five digs, respectively in the winning cause.
Texas A&M opened the match by scoring the game’s first point, but UK responded immediately with consecutive kills from Billings and O’Conner. Kentucky then quickly claimed a four-point lead fooling consecutive kills from Billings at 10-6. It was all the breathing room the Blue and White would need as it rolled to a 25-18 opening set victory.
Billings and Frazier both notched five kills in the set to lead the attack. Frazier posted her kills on a .714 clip with Billings totaling a .625 percentage. Kentucky combined for 17 kills on .441 hitting, while also recording a trio of blocks.
The Aggies began the second set in much the same fashion by scoring the set’s first point, but UK once again scored two quick points to answer. Billings had a kill and then teamed with Pavan for a rejection. Texas A&M responded by grabbing a 14-11 lead in the middle portion of the frame, but UK would chart a 14-7 run to close out the frame and take a 2-0 lead into the locker room following a 25-21 second set win.
Billings posted eight kills in the set to lead the charge as the Wildcats notched 17 kills on .244 hitting. UK limited the home team to 11 kills on a mere .114 hitting with 4.5 blocks in the stanza.
Kentucky came out clicking on all cylinders in the third frame to jump out to an early 10-4 advantage. UK charted seven kills in the early going and picked up an ace from Frazier in the run to force the Aggies into an early timeout.
Out of the break the Aggies scored two straight points, but Kentucky responded with back-to-back kills from O’Conner to go up 13-8. In the run, Klefot recorded her 11th dig of the match to set the new single-season standard. Texas A&M did not quit and turned back three straight UK attacks to pull back to within two at 13-11 and Kentucky chose to use a timeout.
The Aggies tied the score at 15 and from there the teams would exchange points back and forth until UK broke loose for three straight points to capture a 22-19 lead. In the run, Pavan and O’Conner teamed up for a block and then O’Conner crushed a kill. Billings capped the run with an ace and A&M opted to use its final timeout.
That would be all the closer the home squad would get as UK scored the final three points of the match to grab a 25-19 final set win. UK closed the set with consecutive blocks to end the match in thrilling fashion.
Kentucky again succeeded both offensively and defensively. UK notched 17 kills on .273 hitting and posted three blocks in the final frame.
Kentucky's Memorial Coliseum will play host to the NCAA Regionals Dec. 9-10. UK is one of four sites selected for Sweet 16 and Elite Eight matchups with one team advancing to the Final Four in San Antonio, Texas, from the Lexington Region. Opening night matches are scheduled for 5 and 7 p.m. ET. Saturday’s final is set for a 4:30 p.m. ET first serve.
Gator Volleyball Rallies from First Set Defeat to Earn 3-1 Victory over Missouri
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa – The No. 17 Gator volleyball team stormed back from a loss in the opening set to defeat future SEC opponent Missouri, 3-1 (23-25, 25-16, 25-20, 25-16), in NCAA First Round action on Friday evening on the campus of the University of Northern Iowa.
Florida improves to 25-5 on the year, with tonight’s win giving the Gators a nation-leading 21st consecutive 25-win season. UF advances to play the host UNI Panthers, who defeated Niagara in three sets in the second match of the evening. The two teams will face off in the second round of the NCAA Championship on Saturday evening at 8:30 p.m. ET.
“When the draw came out, we thought this would be our hardest first round match in our tenure at Florida and it certainly lived up to that billing,” Florida head coach Mary Wise said. “Give credit to Missouri, the pace at which they play, how well-coached they are. They are very young. I think I can go back to the SEC and say we will all be better with Missouri coming into our league.”
Florida’s seniors led the way, as First Team All-SEC selections Kristy Jaeckel (Littleton, Colo.) and Kelly Murphy (Wilmington, Ill.) notched a double-double and a triple-double, respectively. Jaeckel tallied a match-high 19 kills to go along with 14 digs for 21.5 points against the Tigers. Murphy, a Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award finalist and three-time All-American, registered her 28th career triple-double with 10 kills, 28 assists and 12 digs for 13.0 points.
The Gators’ back row play was a highlight of Friday evening, as two career highs were set by a duo of Gator freshmen. Redshirt freshman libero Taylor Unroe (Muncie, Ind.) registered a career-high 23 digs against the Tigers, adding three assists and two service aces. Freshman defensive specialist Holly Pole (Ocala, Fla.) reached a new career high in digs in the first set alone, notching 10 scoops in the opening stanza. She recorded 20 digs on the evening as a whole.
The Gator middles came up big down the stretch, as sophomore middle blocker Chloe Mann (Gainesville, Fla.) notched 11 kills and three blocks for 12.5 points while junior middle blocker Betsy Smith (Atlanta, Ga.) narrowly missed her career high in blocks with seven. Smith added an errorless six kills for 10.0 points, her eighth errorless performance of the season. Junior right-side Tangerine Wiggs (Seattle, Wash.) recorded seven kills and four blocks on the evening and sophomore setter Chanel Brown (Tempe, Ariz.), along with Murphy, directed the Gator offense with 53 combined assists against Mizzou.
Missouri jumped out to a 6-1 lead, forcing a Florida timeout. The Gators attempted to close the gap, using big swings from Mann and Smith to cut the Tigers’ lead to 13-6. Jaeckel powered one through the block, pulling closer at 15-9. An Unroe ace forced a timeout for Mizzou with the Tigers leading, 15-10. A Jaeckel kill off the Tiger block got the Gators within four, 16-12. Murphy and Smith teamed up for a stuff block on Katie O’Brien and a Jaeckel kill put Florida within two, 17-15. Missouri began to pull away, taking a 20-16 advantage late in the first set. Murphy found the seam of the Missouri block to pull within three, but the Tigers forced a Gator timeout at 22-18 with a tip by Whitney Little. Smith found the open court with a tip over the block and Jaeckel’s overpass kill forced the Tigers into their second timeout with Mizzou leading 23-21. Jaeckel killed one on the right to save a Missouri set point, 24-22. A Smith stuff block saved another set point to pull the Gators within one at 24-23, but a Lisa Henning kill gave the Tigers the first set, 25-23.
The teams traded points to open the second stanza, with Jaeckel and Smith teaming up for a block to give Florida its first lead of the match at 3-2. Murphy used two aces to force a Mizzou timeout at 11-8. Ferrell found the seam in the block to pull ahead, 12-10. Jaeckel nailed one through the Tiger block to force a second Missouri timeout with Florida leading 15-10. Mann and Wiggs teamed up for a stuff block to take its largest lead of the match at 18-10. Missouri went on a 4-0 run to force a Florida timeout at 18-14. Wiggs two swings down the line to put Florida back at a comfortable 20-15 lead. Jaeckel tipped one deep down the line to take a 22-15 advantage. Murph ended a long rally with a slam that nicked the line cross-court, 23-16. Back-to-back Missouri hitting errors gave Florida the second set, 25-16, and evened the match at a set apiece.
The Gators jumped out to a 4-0 lead behind big plays from Jaeckel and Wiggs, forcing a Mizzou timeout. The Tigers began to cut away at the Gator lead, tying the third stanza at 9-9. Mann slammed one from a Murphy quick set, as Florida pulled ahead 11-9. Jaeckel and Smith teamed up for a huge stuff block to end a long rally, 13-11. The Tigers began to fight back and took a 14-13 lead, forcing a Gator timeout. Florida battled back to tie the set at 18-18. Mizzou had a string of hitting errors late to widen the gap as the Tigers took timeout with the Gators leading 21-19. Jaeckel nailed one through the Missouri block and an Unroe ace put Florida ahead, 23-19. A Jaeckel smash down the line set Florida up with set point, 24-19, and a Mizzou hitting error gave the Gators the set, 25-20.
Florida jumped out to a 4-1 lead to force a Mizzou timeout. The Gators continued to roll, taking a 10-2 lead off a Smith overpass kill, as the Tigers to took their second timeout of the stanza early. Jaeckel served up an ace to give Florida a 12-4 advantage. The Orange and Blue continued to widen the gap, leading by as many as 10 at 15-5 and 19-9. Missouri started a mini-run and pulled within six, forcing a Gator timeout with Florida leading 20-14. The Gators closed the set on a 5-2 run as Florida registered three straight kills to take the set and the match, 25-16.
“At this point, we’ve seen the parity in women’s volleyball,” Wise said. “For us to be able to beat Missouri and move on, it’s huge. Especially after dropping the first set, nobody panicked and Kelly and Kristy were outstanding in their play and helping us win that match.”
The Gator defense held its ninth opponent of the season to less than .100 hitting, as the Tigers managed a .071 offensive clip. Missouri entered the 2011 NCAA Championship as the youngest team in the field and finish their season with a 21-13 record as they begin SEC play next year. They were led by right-side hitter Lisa Henning with 16 kills and setter Molly Kreklow with 32 assists and 17 digs.
“With the opportunity to play that caliber of a team with that terrific setter…I think you can put Molly Kreklow with any team in the country and they will be highly competitive immediately as talented as she is,” Wise said. “With Lisa Henning, she obviously had another great match. We worked really hard to try and defend her and yet, she still got 16 kills on us.”
Saturday’s match will be broadcast live with radio on Sportsradio 850 with Tom Collett and Missy Whittemore on the call. Live streaming video will be provided free of charge on UNIPanthers.com
Lady Vols End Season in Heartbreaking Fashion, Fall to Ohio State in Five
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - A stingy Ohio State defense simply proved too much on Friday, as the 14th-seeded Tennessee volleyball team saw its season come to a close with a hard-fought five-set loss, 25-23, 21-25, 23-25, 25-22, 12-15, in the second round of the NCAA Tournament at Thompson-Boling Arena in Knoxville.
“Ohio State played a great match,” Lady Vol head volleyball coach Rob Patrick said. “They were very aggressive in all facets of the game, but I’m very proud of the way our players gave everything they had. The one thing I always tell our players is we can always walk off the court when we have given everything and left it on the court. We did that today.”
The loss ends one of the most successful seasons in Lady Vol history as the Southeastern Conference champions finished with a 28-4 overall record, including a near-perfect 14-1 mark at home. Both the overall attendance and average attendance figures were shattered this season, as 17,852 fans came out to support the Big Orange, with average crowd of 1,190 at each match.
“I couldn’t be more proud of this team for giving 100 percent every single day in practice and 100 percent every day in our matches,” Patrick said. “We’re obviously very disappointed that our season is over right now, but my hats are off to the players for playing as hard as they could for as long as they could. They represented UT tremendously not only this season, but in this match.”
Defense was the key for the Buckeyes as they limited the Orange and White to their third-lowest hitting percentage of the season at .171. On the other side of the net, it was the Tennessee defense that kept it in the match, setting the single-match school record for an NCAA Tournament contest with 35 blocks.
“The game plan was there defensively,” Patrick explained. “I thought we did a pretty good job of that. We held them to basically a .200 hitting percentage (.207), which is below their average. We had 20 blocks, which means we put our blocks in the right spot. Defensively, I thought our team did a wonderful job of carrying out the game plan.”
As she did all year, sophomore Kelsey Robinson paced the Big Orange with her 23rd double-double, accumulating a team-high 17 kills to go along with 16 digs, two blocks and an ace. The 2011 SEC Player of the Year finished with 561 kills, good for the fourth-highest single-season total in Tennessee history.
Behind Robinson, it was a trio of freshmen that carried the load. First-year Lady Vols Shealyn Kolosky and Mary Pollmiller each notched double-doubles and Tiffany Baker produced a solid all-around effort with 13 kills, six digs and a personal-best eight blocks.
Kolosky's double-double consisted of a pair of career-highs with 10 blocks and 11 kills on .391 hitting, while Pollmiller tallied 48 assists and 19 digs, also a career high.
First All-SEC selections DeeDee Harrison and Leslie Cikra also pounded out double digit kills, as for the first time all season five Lady Vols recorded 10 kills or more. Against the Buckeyes, Harrison, a Nashville, Tenn., product tallied 12 kills, while Cikra finished with 10.
Friday’s offensive effort marked the first time a Tennessee team had five players with 10-plus kills since the second round of the 2004 NCAA Tournament versus Texas A&M (Dec. 4, 2004).
In the back row, sophomore Ellen Mullins dug up 13 Ohio State attacks and freshman Nikki Brice was the fourth Lady Vol to reach double figures in digs after recording 11.
The loss ends the career of UT's lone senior Kelsey Mahoney, who helped the Lady Vols reach four NCAA Tournaments and post a combined record of 99-29 in her four years at Rocky Top.
In what all came down to a race to 15 in the fifth set, Tennessee started strong, going on a 3-0 run after the Buckeyes scored the first point. Kolosky, Pollmiller and Robinson all blasted kills to give UT the 3-1 early advantage. Five straight from OSU gave the Buckeyes the lead, 6-3, which resulted in a UT timeout.
Down four, 9-5, Tennessee put together a 3-0 rally and scored five of the ensuing six to knot the set up at 10 all. In that span, Robinson, Harrison and Cikra all had kills, while the Buckeyes had a pair of attack errors. Shots from Baker again tied the match at 11 and 12, but that was the final points the Lady Vols would score.
Ohio State (21-14) ended the set and the match on a 3-0 run to down the Big Orange and advance to the NCAA Regionals next week in Gainesville.
The Lady Vols and the Buckeyes split the first four points of the opening set prior to OSU putting together a 4-0 run to record a 6-2 lead. Tennessee followed that up with a spurt of its own, rattling off six-straight points to claim an 8-6 advantage. Baker propelled the run, tallying a pair of kills, while Kolosky also blasted a ball down, Mullins recorded an ace and Kolosky and Baker combined for two blocks.
Up one, 10-9, Tennessee scored four of the ensuing five to push its lead to four, 14-10, led by a kill and a solo block from Robinson and a kill from Pollmiller and Kolosky. With UT leading 18-14, the Buckeyes scored three in a row, resulting in a Lady Vol timeout.
The break was critical for the Orange and White, as they scored the next two points by way of a Kolosky bomb and a block from Kolosky and Pollmiller to make the score 20-17. UT had a four-point lead on two occasions late, 23-19 and 24-20, but Ohio State clawed back into the set and cut its deficit to just one, 24-23. Baker ended the set with her fourth kill of the frame, giving Tennessee the opening game 25-23.
After splitting the first four points of set two, Ohio State grabbed a 4-2 lead prior to the Big Orange notching four-straight tallies, three of which were blocks. Cikra sparked the rally with a kill, while Kolosky had a hand in sending three Ohio State attacks back.
The Buckeyes would score five of the next six to reclaim a 9-7 advantage, but UT answered with a 4-0 run of its own. Two kills from Robinson, one from Harrison and a block from Pollmiller and Cikra allowed the Orange and White to reclaim the lead, 11-10. Ohio State evened the game at 14, but a kill from Cikra and a combined block from Harrison and Baker pushed UT’s lead back to two, 14-12.
The set would be tied at points 14, 16, 17 and 18 before OSU would take a two-point advantage at 20-18, forcing the Lady Vols to take a timeout. A Buckeye service error and a Robinson kill got UT to within one, 21-20, but Ohio State scored four of the final five points to win the frame, 25-21.
Set three was a back-and-forth affair throughout, as OSU held a slim 4-3 advantage to begin the frame. The Buckeyes extended their lead to as many as four, 11-7, before slams from Harrison and Kolosky and a Baker stuff after an Orange and White timeout made the score 11-10. Ohio State would counter, scoring the next three to extend its lead again to four, 14-10.
The Scarlet and Grey went on to lead by as many as five, 17-12 and 18-13, but a Lady Vol timeout resulted in UT scoring five of six to get within one, 19-18. UT was the beneficiary of two Buckeye attack errors, in addition to a pair of blocks and a kill from Robinson.
With the score 20-18 in favor of the Buckeyes, a kill off the arm of Cikra and two OSU attack errors gave UT its first lead of the set, 21-20. Ohio State caught up to the Orange and White at points 21 and 22, finishing out the set by scoring four of the final five to earn a 25-23 set victory.
Tennessee wouldn’t go down without a fight, jumping out to a 4-1 advantage in the fourth. After Ohio State recorded the first point, kills from Kolosky and Harrison, a block from Pollmiller and Harrison and an OSU miscue gave the Big Orange the early lead.
Still up a point, 5-4, a Robinson ace, a kill from Baker on an overpass and a Buckeye service error gave UT an 8-4 lead. Tennessee pushed that advantage out to five after Baker and Kolosky notched kills and an error from Ohio State made the score 13-8. Still holding a five-point advantage at 20-15, OSU grabbed four of the next five to cut the deficit to two, 21-19, and force Patrick to use a timeout.
Robinson blasted a kill following the timeout, but two-straight Buckeye points made the score 22-21. Tennessee would never relinquish its lead however, scoring three of the final four to win the set 25-22, by way of a combined block from Harrison and Robinson, a kill by Harrison and a Baker blast.