No. 2 Nebraska defeats No. 9 Kentucky on opening night

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WYMT) – The No. 9 Kentucky Volleyball team opened the 2024 season by dropping a 3-1 (25-21, 22-25, 25-15, 25-20) decision to No. 2 Nebraska in the 2024 American Volleyball Coaches’ Association First Serve Showcase in the KFC Yum! Center. The match was the first volleyball match of the 2024 season across the country.

Nebraska got off to a strong start, hitting over .250 throughout the opening set and riding a late wave of momentum to take a 1-0 lead. The Wildcats responded back by taking set two with a 25-22 win and Nebraska won the final two sets to win the match 3-1.

The Wildcats got a match-high 19 kills from sophomore outside hitter Brooklyn DeLeye who had six digs and a trio of blocks in the match. Also reaching double figures in the match Tuesday night was Erin Lamb who had 14 terminations in the contest with three service aces to tag along with it.

Kentucky will now return home and get ready for one of the most momentous nights in program history as it opens the newly-renovated Historic Memorial Coliseum in Lexington after an 18-month project. The Wildcats will play Northern Kentucky at 6:30 p.m. ET Friday night in the Bluegrass Battle as part of the opening weekend tournament hosted by UK in Lexington. The match will be broadcasted on SEC Network+ and the ESPN app with Andrew Kappes calling the game on the UK Sports Network radio stations.

Set One

The match started brightly for Kentucky, who jumped out to a 1-0 lead thanks to a kill, the first of her career, from RS-freshman middle blocker, Jordyn Dailey. The Wildcats led a majority of the way, with their lead ballooning to as much as four at 15-11 during the opening media timeout of the set. Nebraska slowly began to close the gap on UK in the middle stanza of the frame with outside terminations and they were able to limit the Kentucky offense which was hitting over .300 at one point in the set. Nebraska tied the frame at 19-19 and then took four of the final five points to win the opening set, 25-21. Erin Lamb led the Wildcats offensively with five kills in the set and Brooklyn DeLeye had three kills to add to her total with Emma Grome dishing out 12 assists.

Set Two

Kentucky took set two behind more consistent hitting and attack from Erin Lamb, who ended the second set with nine kills on 16 swings with no errors and hitting a robust .562 for the match. Nebraska held an early three-point lead in the second but the offense of Asia Thigpen, a freshman from Pittsboro, North Carolina who pushed Kentucky to within two at 12-10 and pulled the Wildcats to within two points. The set was tied at 20-20 before Kentucky won two points behind a challenge win by Craig Skinner and a kill by Brooklyn DeLeye as Kentucky got on the doorstep of the set at 24-23. On the first set point, Kentucky’s Erin Lamb pounded home her ninth kill of the match and Kentucky squared things at 1-1 with a 25-23 second-set win.

Set Three

Nebraska came out of the locker room clicking on all cylinders as the Huskers took an early six-point lead at 12-6 that pushed the Wildcats into a timeout to try and stymie the offensive momentum by the Huskers. After UK won back-to-back points to close the gap to 17-9, the Huskers got on a run and grew their lead to 21-12 and saw things out from there to take a two sets to one lead over the Wildcats through three.

Set Four

The Huskers again jumped out to a multi-point lead early in the set the prompted the Wildcats to have to call their first timeout trailing by six at 9-3 in the fourth frame. The Huskers would go on to hit over .300 in the game and closed out the match 3-1 with a 25-20 fourth-set win.

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