The Kentucky volleyball team kicked off 2012 with the Blue-White scrimmage.
Lindsey Gray-Walton begins her third season as an assistant coach with the Wildcats after being hired to the position in January of 2010.
Gray-Walton serves as the Wildcats' recruiting coordinator. The 2011 class is ranked in the top-30 in the country according to PrepVolleyball.com, while she helped haul in the 15th best class in 2012.
In her first season with the Blue and White, Gray-Walton helped guide Kentucky to its sixth consecutive winning season and sixth straight appearance in the NCAA Tournament.
Gray-Walton and the Wildcats then totaled a 28-6 overall record, a second-place finish in the SEC, a top-15 national ranking to conclude the season and an appearance in the NCAA Regionals in 2011. UK played in front of the largest crowd during the Craig Skinner era in the Regional appearance against top-seeded Texas.
In January of 2012, Gray-Walton was named to the AVCA's "Top 30 Coaches Under 30."
Gray-Walton previously spent a year as the recruiting coordinator for the College of Charleston. She is a 2008 graduate of Georgia Tech where she was an All-Atlantic Coast Conference player.
"Lindsey is an exceptional addition to our staff," Skinner said upon Gray-Walton's hiring. "There is no doubt in my mind that she will help us continue going in the right direction. She is very bright, passionate, and competitive. Her talents will help us right away and keep her successful in coaching for years to come."
The College of Charleston went 18-13 overall and fell to Florida in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in 2009. Additionally the Cougars claimed the Southern Conference tournament crown for the conference's automatic bid to the national tournament in Gray's first season with the squad.
"I am thrilled with the opportunity in front of me," Walton said after taking her new post as an assistant at UK. "Coach Skinner, his staff and team have worked hard to build a successful program here at the University Kentucky, and I'm excited to be a part of this tradition. It truly is a great time to be a Kentucky Wildcat."
At Georgia Tech she was a member of three 20-plus win teams, including a 27-7 team that went 16-0 during her freshman season. That team went on to earn an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament and defeat Georgia and No. 16 UC Santa Barbara before falling in the Sweet Sixteen to Minnesota. As a junior she was an All-ACC second team member and she also earned ACC Player of the Week honors in 2006.
Gray-Walton concluded her career ranking among the Yellow Jackets' all-time greats as she ranked sixth in career service aces, fifth in service aces per game (0.33) and sixth in the single-season record books with 53 aces in 2006.
Gray-Walton served as coach at summer camps both at Georgia Tech and Emory University throughout her playing career. She also served as the head coach of the Tsunami Volleyball Club based out of Atlanta, Ga., beginning in 2007.
A native of Olathe, Kan., she married Kyle Walton in May of 2012. Gray-Walton graduated in 2008 from Georgia Tech with a Bachelor of Science degree in management, with certificates in both marketing and management.
