No. 21 UK Volleyball Prepares for Bluegrass Battle Against No. 2 Louisville

It’s rivalry day in the Bluegrass, as the No. 21 Kentucky volleyball team prepares to take on No. 2 Louisville inside the KFC Yum! Center late Wednesday night in the annual Bluegrass Battle. And after suffering a heartbreaking loss to No. 21 Purdue in five sets on Saturday, the Cats are looking to get back on track in their highest-ranked match of the young season. 

If Kentucky wants to knock off the Cardinals, however, it’s going to take a team effort across the board. Heading into the match, here are three areas of emphasis that Kentucky needs to excel at in order to come away with the win. 

The Battle Behind the Service Line

Winning the serve and pass battle is a critical part of any volleyball match. But especially against a team as talented as Louisville, that point is as true as ever. The Cardinals currently have four hitters averaging at least 2.0 kills per set, led by senior outside hitter Anna DeBeer. DeBeer has recorded at least 17 kills in three matches already this season, highlighted by a season-high 24 kills coming in a five-set win over Dayton. 

DeBeer isn’t the only productive hitter for the Cardinals, however, as Charitie Luper, Cara Cresse and graduate senior Aiko Jones all make up a potent offensive attack across every area of the net. In order to slow Louisville down, Kentucky must not only limit service errors, but serve tough and intentionally to keep the Cardinals’ offense out of system and off balance. 

UK head coach Craig Skinner stressed his team’s improvement from behind the service line on Tuesday when preparing for the match against the Cardinals, citing that as a big reason the Cats have seen some improvement of late. 

“Our serving has gotten a lot better the last couple of weeks,” Skinner said. “We’re creating easier chances for us to score and against the better teams you have to be able to do that because if you give them two, three options offensively it’s going to be really hard to score that point.”  

Against No. 21 Houston last Friday, Kentucky racked up eight aces and 13 service errors, and against No. 20 Purdue on Saturday they totaled eight more aces with 14 service errors. They still have work to do to cut down on some errors, but the Cats are causing much more chaos with the serve than they did to begin the season. And against a team as talented as Louisville, that trend will need to continue.

But winning the service battle doesn’t just mean serving the ball accurately. Kentucky will also need to receive serve much more efficiently than they did in early losses against Colorado State and Pittsburgh. 

Despite losing the match to Purdue last weekend, Kentucky’s ability to pass the ball in system and give setter Emma Grome plenty of options offensively is a large reason the Cats saw five players eclipse double figures in the match. Kentucky sided out 66% of the time against the Boilermakers, a solid number against a team as talented as Purdue. Louisville currently ranks 12^th in the nation in team aces per set, registering 2.19 per frame. The Kentucky passers will need to be ready in order to pass a good ball to Grome to run the offense effectively. 

Limiting Errors

Perhaps Kentucky’s biggest problem all season long has been its inability to limit unforced errors. In their four losses, the Cats are averaging 24 attacking errors per match. Combined with their service errors, and Kentucky has regularly gifted opposing teams at least a set’s worth of points. 

Skinner and company believe this offense has the opportunity to do something special. But the only way that will happen will be if Kentucky’s pin hitters can be more efficient against big blocks. It’s imperative that the Cats look for and create one-on-one opportunities for their hitters against the Louisville block. But even if the block is fully formed in front of them, Kentucky will need to be much more effective at swinging for high hands to tool the block. 

Coach Skinner is stressing the need for Kentucky to generate more kills offensively, something that the Cats believe they can do if they can cut down on some of those errors. 

Left Side Production

One of the staples of Kentucky volleyball over the last several years has been the presence of at least one dynamic left side hitter. Leah Edmond, Alli Stumler, Avery Skinner, and Adanna Rollins heard their names called early and often throughout their respective careers at Kentucky. And each of them stepped up to the plate any time the Cats found themselves in need of a kill.

This season, however, the Cats have struggled out of the gate to find consistent production out of its outside hitters. Erin Lamb, Brooklyn DeLeye and Megan Wilson have all each shown flashes of excellence, but they’ve been far too inconsistent for the Cats to settle into a good offensive rhythm. 

In a pair of matches against Pittsburgh two weeks ago, Kentucky’s outside hitters managed just 23 total kills through seven sets of play and failed to see one reach double figures in either match. That’s been a point of emphasis for the Cats here lately, as Skinner and the rest of the coaching staff are stressing more production out of that left pin.

“Last weekend against Pittsburgh our left side attack wasn’t great,” Skinner said. “Last weekend against Houston and Purdue it was much better. We definitely need that production to continue and continue to have balance across the net.” 

As Skinner pointed out, Kentucky did a much better job getting production out of the left pin in matches against Houston and Purdue this past weekend. DeLeye totaled 13 kills on a .303 clip against Houston Friday before following that up with a 12-kill output on a .212 clip against the Boilermakers on Saturday. Wilson totaled a team-high 16 kills in that five set loss to Purdue, the highest scoring output of her young Wildcat career. 

Against Louisville, Kentucky’s left side hitters will need to be ready as the Cardinals try to stress the Kentucky attack from behind the service line. The Cats will need to do their best to pass a good ball to Grome every time, but when they find themselves out of system Lamb, DeLeye, and Wilson must be efficient at finding the floor with a kill in order for Kentucky to be successful.

The Cats haven’t started the season the way they would have hoped. And with the schedule not lightening up any time soon, there are no easy games for Kentucky to right the ship. But this Kentucky team is still wildly talented and has shown flashes of brilliance, especially in its exhibition match against No. 24 WKU, its victory over No. 21 Houston and at times in that five-set heartbreaker against Purdue. Louisville is a talented team and is ranked No. 2 in the country for a reason. But if the Cats can find a way to play within themselves and limit their errors, they’ll have a very real shot to knock off the Cardinals inside the Yum! Center. 

First serve against the Cardinals is set for 8:00 pm and will be broadcast live on ESPN.