No. 10 Kentucky Volleyball Falls in Four to Colorado State in Season Debut

The No. 10 Kentucky volleyball team kicked off its 2023 campaign late Friday night in Fort Collins, Colorado. Unfortunately, they didn’t find themselves on the winning side of the court once the horn sounded, however, as Colorado State knocked off the Cats 3-1 (27-29, 19-25, 25-20, 18-25) in front of 7,687 rowdy fans inside Moby Arena. 

Kentucky looked out of sync all night long, piling up 21 attacking errors and 13 service errors as a team. In the final frame alone, the Cats managed only seven terminations compared to 6 errors, resulting in a hitting clip of just .032.

Only two Wildcats managed to eclipse double figures, led by seniors Elise Goetzinger and Reagan Rutherford. Goetzinger totaled a career-high 15 kills with only four errors, good for a .367 clip. Rutherford added 14 kills of her own, junior Erin Lamb had eight, Azhani Tealer had seven, and Megan Wilson and Brooklyn DeLeye each added six. 

But it wasn’t just the offense that struggled Friday night. The Cats managed just 2.0 team blocks on the match, a large reason the Rams were able to hit .346 as a team and totaled only 10 errors through four sets of play. Every attacker for Colorado State hit at least .300 on the match, and none had more than four errors individually. 

On the back line, Rutherford led the way with 17 digs, giving the senior her first double-double of the season. Junior libero Eleanor Beavin added 14 digs of her own, Emma Grome had eight, and Molly Tuozzo had six.

The match was the first of a pair of games the Cats will play in Colorado this weekend. Kentucky will now travel to Greeley, Colo. for a clash with Northern Colorado late Saturday. First serve is set for 8:00 pm ET and will be broadcast live on ESPN+.