Oct. 31, 1999

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. The University of Kentucky volleyball team split its weekend series with the Tennessee Lady Vols after losing 3-0 on Sunday at UT’s Stokely Athletics Center. Game scores were 15-6, 15-7 and 15-13. The Cats beat the Vols 3-2 on Friday night at UK’s Memorial Coliseum.

"We are certainly not satisfied with a split," UK Head Coach Jona Braden said. "We wanted to take both matches this weekend. We just did not perform well enough to do that today."

In a dismal hitting display by the Cats (12-11, 5-6 SEC), the most productive hitters were Kristen Batt who posted eight kills and a .240 hitting percentage and April Barnhorst, tallying nine kills while hitting at a .211 clip. UK posted a .114 percentage for the match. Senior Katie Eiserman led the squad with 10 digs and now is 17 digs shy of the all-time UK record of 1,139 digs held by Ann Hall.

Tennessee (17-10, 7-4 SEC) led for most of the match as the Cats were only able to grab a brief 5-2 advantage in game two. The Vols asserted their desire to strike revenge on the Cats early in the match as they sprung out of the gates to pound out an 8-1 lead. While the Vols were hitting on all cylinders, the Cats were sputtering as five UK errors led to points for UT in game one. UT hit .412 in game one.

UK used its blocking to get back in the match in game two as a block solo by Eiserman and a combo by her and Megan Weiskircher helped the Cat open up their 5-2 lead. Unfortunately, the hitting errors kept coming for the Cats as they gave away the lead and the game with 10 game-two hitting errors. Weiskircher posted a season-worst 11 errors in the match.

After falling behind 8-0 and then 12-3 in game three, the "Comeback Cats" made their usual surge and fought back to tie the game at 13-13. Eiserman scored four of her 10 kills in game three and the team totaled four blocks in making its run. But as quick as the Cats got back into the match, it was over even quicker as the Vols got a sideout and two quick points to seal up the match. The Cats return to action on Friday, Nov. 5, at Florida A & M in Tallahassee and conclude their weekend trip to the Sunshine State with a date with the fourth-ranked Lady Gators of Florida on Sunday, Nov. 7. The Cats lost to Florida, 3-0, on Oct. 22, in Lexington.

AGATE
Stokely Athletics Center
Knoxville, Tenn.
Attendance: 245

Kentucky        6       7       13
Tennessee       15      15      15