Oct. 17, 1999
STARKVILLE, Miss. - The University of Kentucky volleyball team continued its
all-or-nothing attitude on Sunday as the Wildcats completed a weekend sweep of
the Mississippi-based SEC schools with a 3-1 victory over Mississippi State.
Game scores were 15-8, 12-15, 15-2 and 15-9.
The Cats (11-8, 4-4 SEC) earned their second SEC weekend sweep of the
season as they defeated the Lady Bulldogs after winning at Ole Miss on Friday.
The Cats swept Alabama and Auburn at home earlier this year. UK was swept
itself in its other two SEC series this season.
Just as UK did on Friday against Ole Miss, the Cats jumped out to a big
lead to start the match. The Cats notched the first eight points of game one
and led 10-2 before MSU (8-10, 0-7 SEC) reeled off five straight points. But
10-7 was as close as the Bulldogs would get as UK won game one, 15-8.
After UK grabbed a 1-0 lead in game two, MSU scored six straight
points. The Bulldogs gradually built their lead to 14-6 before UK once again
showed its tenacious ability to get back in a game. The Cats did it by forming
a wall at the net as April Barnhorst and Stephenie Taylor combined for
two-straight blocks followed by two more from Katie Eiserman and Barnhorst and
then Eiserman and Megan Weiskircher. The blocks allowed the Cats to score six
points in a row and narrow the gap to 14-12. But after a sideout by each team,
MSU posted the winning point to even the match at a game a piece. Both teams
hit poorly for the game as MSU out-hit UK -.032 to -.040.
Game three started out slowly as both teams struggled to put points on
the board in the early going as MSU led 2-1 after 13 services. After an ace by
Weiskircher tied the game at 2-2, the Cats took advantage of several Bulldog
errors to build a 6-2 lead. UK maintained its momentum and ended up taking 14
straight points for a 15-2 win. The Cats posted an astounding .571 hitting
percentage in game three.
MSU looked determined to push the Cats to another deciding game five
just as Ole Miss had done on Friday. The Bulldogs jumped out to leads of 3-0
and 6-2, but Weiskircher led a UK charge that resulted in five straight points
and a 7-6 UK lead. After MSU tied the game at 7-7, UK posted four straight
points en route to setting the final margin of 15-9.
Eiserman led the Cats with 13 kills while Weiskircher recorded a
team-high 10 digs in the team’s winning effort.
