(12) Kentucky Cruises Into Second Round with Sweep of Loyola

LEXINGTON, Ky. – The No. 12 seeded Kentucky Volleyball group obtained 15 kills from Adanna Rollins and 44 assists from sophomore setter Emma Grome to advance into the second spherical of the 2022 NCAA Volleyball Championship with a 3-0 (25-17, 25-14, 25-20) sweep of the Loyola-Chicago Ramblers.

Kentucky will play Western Kentucky on Friday evening at 7 p.m. ET inside Memorial Coliseum for a spot within the NCAA Candy 16’s Palo Alto Regional. The match will likely be broadcasted on ESPN+ with Jeff Greer and Leah Edmond on the decision from Lexington. Tickets can be found by visiting UKathletics.com/tickets or by contacting the UK Athletics Ticket Workplace.

Rollins led all gamers within the match Thursday evening with 15 kills on 31 swings as she hit .778 within the first set alone and .355 for the match together with 5 digs and a block. Additionally reaching double-figures in scoring was Reagan Rutherford who had 11 kills Thursday on .391 hitting with three blocks and a pair of digs.

Kentucky as a group hit .398, its highest output in a month, as Grome dished out 44 assists, her highest whole this season in any three-set match. Grome, the SEC Participant of the 12 months this season, additionally had 5 digs and a trio of blocks in Thursday evening’s affair.

UK held Loyola-Chicago to .159 hitting for the match as just one Rambler hit double-digit kills for the evening with Karlie McNabb logging 13 terminations within the contest. Eleanor Beavin had 16 digs Thursday night to steer all Wildcats, as Rollins, Grome, Riah Walker and Audrey Whitworth all had 5 or extra within the match defensively.

Set One

Kentucky raced out to a 15-10 lead on the first media timeout of the body, as Adanna Rollins and Bella Bell each had 4 kills every inside the primary 25 factors of the match. Bell was hitting 1.000 for the match to that time and that was Kentucky’s largest lead of the set to that time. Out of the timeout, Kentucky logged back-to-back blocks by Reagan Rutherford and Bell on the suitable pin to take a 17-10 lead and Loyola-Chicago referred to as its first timeout of the set with UK on a 4-0 run. After Kentucky’s fourth service ace, this time from Eleanor Beavin, Loyola-Chicago referred to as its remaining timeout as Kentucky took a 20-12 lead. Adanna Rollins’ seventh kill ended the primary set, as UK took the body, 25-17. Rollins hit .778 within the set with seven kills on 9 swings and a service ace, as nicely. UK hit .433 as a group with 13 assists dished out by Emma Grome and two blocks every from Bell and Rutherford within the opener.

Set Two

Adanna Rollins stayed sizzling and Rutherford caught hearth to start out the second set as a kill from the suitable pin from Rutherford, her fourth of the match, compelled Loyola-Chicago into an early timeout to try to cease a 4-0 UK scoring run and the Wildcats led 9-3. Erin Lamb recorded back-to-back kills, each out of system to place Kentucky up 13-5 and the Ramblers burned their remaining timeout of the set, trailing by eight within the body. UK thus far within the set was hitting .408 and holding Loyola to -.038. The run prolonged to 8-0 on a block by Azhani Tealer and UK took an 18-5 lead, its largest of any set within the night earlier than Loyola sided out to make it 18-6. Kentucky hit .385 within the set and took the body, 25-14 with seven kills within the set from Rutherford.

Set Three

Kentucky took an 8-5 lead on a Tealer block out of the center to offer the Wildcats a three-point cushion, its largest fringe of the set to that time. After back-to-back hitting errors sandwiched by Adanna Rollins kills halfway by means of the set, Kentucky’s lead grew to 16-10 and the Ramblers have been compelled into their remaining timeout with UK forward by half a dozen and 9 factors from the end line. The match ended appropriately on an Adanna Rollins swing, her fifteenth kill of the match, to clinch the sweep of the Ramblers.

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