University of Georgia Athletics
Saturday, February 13
Athens, Ga.
3:00 p.m.
University of Georgia
4-7,4-7SEC
0
vs
3
Kentucky
11-0,11-0SEC
1
2
3
F
Kentucky
25
25
25
3
Georgia
11
15
17
0
Georgia Falls to No. 3 Kentucky in Straight Sets
February 13, 2021 | Volleyball
ATHENS, Ga. – The University of Georgia volleyball team fell to No. 3 Kentucky Saturday at afternoon at Stegeman Coliseum (11-25, 15-25, 17-25).
Junior Kayla Rivera and sophomore Kacie Evans each tallied six kills to co-lead the Bulldogs' offense. Evans also tallied six digs to co-lead the defense with senior Rachel Ritchie. Evans also recorded a pair of service aces on Saturday.
Georgia came out in front to open the match, leading 6-4. A 7-1 Wildcat run gave Kentucky its first lead of the match, prompting a Georgia timeout. Following the timeout, Sage Naves picked up a kill out of the middle, but Kentucky regrouped to rattle off five-straight and forcing Georgia's final first set timeout, down 16-8. Kentucky never let up, cruising to a 25-11 set one win and take a 1-0 lead in the match. Kayla Rivera led the Georgia attack in the opening set with three kills on five attacks.
Once again, Georgia opened the second set with a 3-1 lead. Kentucky responded with four-straight points to find the lead and slowly began to build on it. Kentucky rolled to a 25-15 win in set two, lengthening its lead to two sets to none in the contest.
Kentucky began the third frame winning four-straight rallies. Strong serves from sophomore Londyn Gray ignited a 4-0 run for the Bulldogs to cut into the early lead, 6-5. Kentucky immediately responded with a 10-1 run to open a hefty 16-6 lead. Three-straight from the Bulldogs helped chip away at the Wildcat lead, 16-9. Down 21-20, A 7-2 run by the Bulldogs, fueled late by senior Kaylah House, significantly cut into the Wildcat lead, 23-17. Kentucky halted the late-set comeback to win the final two points to record the sweep, 25-17.
Georgia and Kentucky face off in the second match of the weekend Sunday at 3 p.m.
Georgia volleyball head coach Tom Black
Georgia's main talking points during timeouts...
"Just execution. I thought we were serving pretty tough throughout the match. There were just a lot of points we were just giving them through over passing and just trying to get better at executing the game plan. Just playing clean so your great plays can work, make sure you're not just giving them free points otherwise the game is going to get too hard."
On Sunday's match...
"There definitely needs to be an energy shift on our side. When you're playing a team like that you're going to be punched in the mouth and you have got to be able to respond. We are capable of that. We will see where we could have executed the game plan better. We always learn a lot from these games, so I expect us to play better tomorrow."
On the late run in the third set
"Like I said, I thought we were serving tough the whole match. I just think our blocking started to pick up. Rachel Ritchie was taking some really tough swings. So, we were just having a good run there at the end, and we need to build off that."
Sophomore outside hitter Kacie Evans
On what stood out about Kentucky's play...
"Well, there's a lot that stood out. They're No. 3 team in the country for a reason. They definitely performed it well tonight. Just knowing from our mistakes that we made, they totally crushed us on that. We just have to come out and respond tomorrow."
On adjusting from set to set...
"We definitely talked in serve/receive a lot better. The first set we got aced I think about three or four times in a row. We knew we needed to make a change. I would say executing off that serve/receive we did a lot better, but it still wasn't enough to get at least in the 20s where we should be with them. So, I think tomorrow we will talk it out and then we will have the server pass and then we will execute 20 times better than what we did tonight."
On the late run in the third set…
"I would say just having the bench players that came in to be ready. Kaylah House came in and scored the last how many points, which really helped us out. And then we had Kianna Young start as our middle who hasn't really played that much throughout the last two seasons. She really came in and did her job. She talked to us back-and-forth. So just the key players that came in off the bench really helped us pull through. And then also we were better just having us play more together."
Junior Kayla Rivera and sophomore Kacie Evans each tallied six kills to co-lead the Bulldogs' offense. Evans also tallied six digs to co-lead the defense with senior Rachel Ritchie. Evans also recorded a pair of service aces on Saturday.
Georgia came out in front to open the match, leading 6-4. A 7-1 Wildcat run gave Kentucky its first lead of the match, prompting a Georgia timeout. Following the timeout, Sage Naves picked up a kill out of the middle, but Kentucky regrouped to rattle off five-straight and forcing Georgia's final first set timeout, down 16-8. Kentucky never let up, cruising to a 25-11 set one win and take a 1-0 lead in the match. Kayla Rivera led the Georgia attack in the opening set with three kills on five attacks.
Once again, Georgia opened the second set with a 3-1 lead. Kentucky responded with four-straight points to find the lead and slowly began to build on it. Kentucky rolled to a 25-15 win in set two, lengthening its lead to two sets to none in the contest.
Kentucky began the third frame winning four-straight rallies. Strong serves from sophomore Londyn Gray ignited a 4-0 run for the Bulldogs to cut into the early lead, 6-5. Kentucky immediately responded with a 10-1 run to open a hefty 16-6 lead. Three-straight from the Bulldogs helped chip away at the Wildcat lead, 16-9. Down 21-20, A 7-2 run by the Bulldogs, fueled late by senior Kaylah House, significantly cut into the Wildcat lead, 23-17. Kentucky halted the late-set comeback to win the final two points to record the sweep, 25-17.
Georgia and Kentucky face off in the second match of the weekend Sunday at 3 p.m.
Georgia volleyball head coach Tom Black
Georgia's main talking points during timeouts...
"Just execution. I thought we were serving pretty tough throughout the match. There were just a lot of points we were just giving them through over passing and just trying to get better at executing the game plan. Just playing clean so your great plays can work, make sure you're not just giving them free points otherwise the game is going to get too hard."
On Sunday's match...
"There definitely needs to be an energy shift on our side. When you're playing a team like that you're going to be punched in the mouth and you have got to be able to respond. We are capable of that. We will see where we could have executed the game plan better. We always learn a lot from these games, so I expect us to play better tomorrow."
On the late run in the third set
"Like I said, I thought we were serving tough the whole match. I just think our blocking started to pick up. Rachel Ritchie was taking some really tough swings. So, we were just having a good run there at the end, and we need to build off that."
Sophomore outside hitter Kacie Evans
On what stood out about Kentucky's play...
"Well, there's a lot that stood out. They're No. 3 team in the country for a reason. They definitely performed it well tonight. Just knowing from our mistakes that we made, they totally crushed us on that. We just have to come out and respond tomorrow."
On adjusting from set to set...
"We definitely talked in serve/receive a lot better. The first set we got aced I think about three or four times in a row. We knew we needed to make a change. I would say executing off that serve/receive we did a lot better, but it still wasn't enough to get at least in the 20s where we should be with them. So, I think tomorrow we will talk it out and then we will have the server pass and then we will execute 20 times better than what we did tonight."
On the late run in the third set…
"I would say just having the bench players that came in to be ready. Kaylah House came in and scored the last how many points, which really helped us out. And then we had Kianna Young start as our middle who hasn't really played that much throughout the last two seasons. She really came in and did her job. She talked to us back-and-forth. So just the key players that came in off the bench really helped us pull through. And then also we were better just having us play more together."
Team Stats
UK
UGa
Kills
40
21
Errors
10
25
Attempts
84
90
Hitting %
.357
-.044
Points
58
28
Assists
30
20
Aces
7
3
Blocks
11
4
Game Leaders
Kills
6
Aces
0
Blocks
0
Kills
6
Aces
2
Blocks
0
Kills
3
Aces
0
Blocks
0
Kills
3
Aces
0
Blocks
1
Players Mentioned
OH
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DS
/ Volleyball
MB
/ VolleyballMB
/ VolleyballOH
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MB
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