CoMo is ‘NoMo: Short-handed Kentucky VB wins in Columbia

Make that two straight victories against SEC opponents for the No. 18 Kentucky Wildcats volleyball team. Wednesday night’s 3-1 victory over Missouri moves the Wildcats to 7-5 (2-1 in SEC) on the year. Kentucky was without Azhani Tealer and Adanna Rollins in Columbia, but that didn’t stop a resilient effort from head coach Craig Skinner’s squad.

Tealer, whose status was day-to-day before the match, hasn’t played since the ‘Cats lost to LSU last weekend. Rollins was ruled out with a non-COVID illness. This forced Bella Bell and Erin Lamb to step up, as they were thrown into the starting lineup.

Back in Lexington by midnight?

It really looked that way after the first set with Kentucky firing out of the gate. The opening set didn’t even last 30 minutes, thanks in part to Reagan Rutherford.

Rutherford played as she has all season long. Fearless. Her six kills in the first set helped the ‘Cats cruise to a 25-12 set victory. However, let’s not forget about Bella Bell.

Bell, who now has started the last two games for the Wildcats, was phenomenal in the first set and the whole game frankly. She tallied five kills of her own and it looked as if Kentucky wasn’t even missing its regular starters.

Missouri made sure that the second set was more competitive though, and foiled Kentucky’s hopes at a sweep on the road.

Déjà Vu

I’ll be honest, I had to search up how to properly spell that. Anyways, the Wildcats have struggled all season long with closing out their opponents late in sets. Granted, Mizzou’s defensive performance had drastically improved in the second set, but Kentucky ran into its similar problems from earlier on in the year.

Elise Goetzinger was a force to be reckoned with at the net in the second. She picked up her fifth block of the match midway into the second set. Kentucky used her energy to go up 18-15 and forced the Tigers into a timeout.

❌❌❌

That’s 5⃣ blocks for Goetzinger!

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— Kentucky Volleyball (@KentuckyVB) September 28, 2022

Missouri came out of its timeout inspired. A 6-1 Tiger run later in the set put them up 22-19. Kentucky saved two set points, but it wasn’t enough as Mizzou won the second set and tied the match at 1-1.

Take your small victory, there’s still a war

The Wildcats had a perfect response to the second set. Rutherford had two kills off the bat with the third set tied at 4. Moments later came a 7-0 Kentucky run which put them up 17-11, including a sequence where the ball hit off the Jumbotron.

Straight out of @UKCoachSkinner‘s playbook is the videoboard-assist play. It’s on page 14.

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— Kentucky Volleyball (@KentuckyVB) September 29, 2022

Bell was able to record her 11th kill of the night to put Kentucky up 23-17. The ‘Cats were able to close this set out after Lamb’s kill put them up 2-1 in the match.

The fourth set saw Kentucky in the driver’s seat early with a 6-1 lead. However, the thing about good things is, they often don’t last.

Missouri went on a 5-1 run late in the set to cut Kentucky’s lead to 19-18.

Kelly Franxman’s back-to-back kills inched the ‘Cats closer to the finish line with a 21-20 lead. With the ball on the far side of the court, Goetzinger was able to smash home a kill to win the fourth set 25-22 for Kentucky.

Emma Grome also contributed 49 assists in Kentucky’s 3-1 victory.

Kentucky has three days until its next conference matchup as Alabama comes to Lexington. The Crimson Tide enters the weekend losing their last two matches versus Auburn.

Even short-handed, the Wildcats looked convincing in their first SEC road game. And hey, maybe they will make it back to Lexington by midnight.