Kentucky volleyball is a Top 10 team in the AVCA Preseason Rankings

ZGeogheganKSR

With goals of winning the program’s eighth consecutive SEC championship, Kentucky volleyball will start the 2024 season among the nation’s 10 best teams.

On Monday morning, the American Volleyball Coaches’ Association Preseason Top 25 Poll was released, which saw Kentucky land at No. 9 overall. The Wildcats are one of six SEC teams to crack the Top 25, the conference’s most on record since the 1982 season. Only the Texas Longhorns (new to the SEC this season) rank ahead of Kentucky, checking in at No. 1 overall after winning back-to-back national titles.

Since 2020 (the year UK won the national championship), the Wildcats have ranked in the preseason Top 10 four of five times.

Kentucky will take on 10 of the AVCA’s Top 25 teams this season, six of those meetings coming against teams in the Top 10. Opponents include No. 1 Texas, No. 2 Nebraska, No. 5 Stanford, No. 6 Louisville, No. 7 Penn State, No. 8 Purdue (or unranked Houston), No. 11 Florida, No. 15 Tennessee, No. 19 Arkansas, and No. 25 Georgia. We can’t imagine there are many tougher schedules out there…

Starting 2024 at #9⃣ in the @AVCAVolleyball rankings😎 pic.twitter.com/lYHCrftlCL
— Kentucky Volleyball (@KentuckyVB) August 19, 2024

Craig Skinner’s team returns plenty of production from last season’s group. SEC Freshman of the Year Brooklyn DeLeye, All-American Emma Grome, and former SEC Libero of the Year Eleanor Beavin are all back for the 2024 season. All three were voted Preseason All-SEC players earlier this summer. Kentucky is projected to finish third in the league behind Texas and Florida, respectively.

“The SEC in general I think is the strongest ever it has been,” Skinner said during Media Day on Monday. “Obviously including the returning two-time national champion Texas, six teams in the preseason Top 25 poll is significant.”

Kentucky opens the 2024 regular season on Tuesday, August 27 against No. 2 Nebraska in Louisville at 7:00 p.m. EST on ESPN2. As part of the AVCA First Serve Showcase, this event includes a doubleheader with the other game featuring No. 3 Wisconsin vs. No. 6 Louisville. UK’s first home game at the renovated Memorial Coliseum in Lexington is set for Friday, August 30 against Northern Kentucky.