Tealer’s 11 Kills, 7 Blocks Pull Kentucky Back into SEC Title Race

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Azhani Tealer had 11 kills, hit .333 and stuffed seven blocks on Sunday afternoon because the Kentucky Volleyball crew pulled again even atop the Southeastern Convention standings with Florida because of a 3-0 (25-21, 26-24, 25-17) sweep of the Gators in Exactech Enviornment.

With Saturday and Sunday’s sequence cut up with Florida, the Gators and Wildcats will enter the ultimate weekend of the 2022 Southeastern Convention season tied with a 13-3 document in league play. Florida performs at Ole Miss and Kentucky hosts a sequence with South Carolina. The SEC doesn’t break ties for a volleyball championship, so if each groups finish with the identical document, the league will declare the groups co-champions.

The UK/USC sequence begins on Friday at 4 p.m. ET inside Memorial Coliseum, with that match additionally marking Senior Day. Tickets can be found at UKathletics.com/tickets.

Adanna Rollins and Erin Lamb each joined Tealer with 11 kills within the match to all co-lead the Wildcats in offense, as Kentucky hit .267 for the match with three gamers in double-figures scoring. Emma Grome dished out 36 assists and UK had three assists from Eleanor Beavin, as nicely with two from Riah Walker.

Defensively, it was Eleanor Beavin who led the way in which with 13 digs and that effort helped lead UK to holding UF with a .163 hitting proportion within the match as just one Gator reached double-figure scoring.

Set One

Kentucky began brightly within the opening set with a lead that was as large as three at 12-9 about midway via the proceedings. The Gators got here again to tie the body at 14 all on an ace from Marina Markova, however a service error on the subsequent level gave Kentucky the 15-14 lead going into the media timeout. After the 2 groups shared ties and one-point leads for the midsection of the stanza, a block from Adanna Rollins and Azhani Tealer gave Kentucky a two-point cushion at 19-17 and Florida was pressured to name its first timeout of the match with UK main by a pair. The lead ballooned to 21-18 thanks to a different block from Tealer on the correct aspect as Kentucky reinstated its three-point lead, the biggest because it was 12-9 earlier within the set. An Adanna Rollins kill, her fourth of the set, gave Kentucky a 23-20 lead off an prolonged rally and Florida was pushed into calling its last timeout. UK known as its last timeout at 24-23 and an Erin Lamb termination from the correct pin ended the set with Kentucky taking it, 25-23.

Set Two

Set two began nicely for the Wildcats, as nicely with a 3-1 lead out of the gates that grew to a 7-4 lead off a solo stuff from Adanna Rollins on the left aspect that made issues 7-4, UK. The following level was an overpass that Rollins threw to the ground for her team-leading seventh kill of the match as Kentucky took an 8-4 lead, the biggest lead for both crew within the match to that time and the Gators known as their first timeout to speak issues over. Kentucky’s lead grew to 5 at 12-7, however Florida went on a 9-4 run that squared the set at 16 all and UK burned its first timeout seeking to cease the Gators momentum. Azhani Tealer stuffed her fourth ball of the set to provide Kentucky a 21-20 lead after each groups tied from 18-all throughout 21 and that prompted a timeout known as by Mary Sensible and the Florida Gators. A Bella Bell block gave Kentucky a 25-24 lead after it salvaged a set level for UF and a kill out-of-system for Adanna Rollins on the correct aspect handed UK the 2-0 lead and a 26-24 second-set win.

Set Three

Due to the serving of Azhani Tealer within the early a part of the set, Kentucky took a 6-3 lead and that led to an trade of six-consecutive aspect outs from each groups that made issues 13-10 because the groups have been even. UF pulled to inside some extent at 13-12, however a kill from Rollins and a block from Bella Bell within the center made the three-point lead alive for UK into the media timeout at 15-12. The Wildcats went on a 7-1 run from that time and Florida had to make use of a timeout after a backrow assault was known as and Kentucky was 4 factors from the match at 21-15. Kentucky dominated down the stretch and gained the third set, hitting .226 within the body and holding UF to .000 because the Wildcats secured a 25-17 third-set win.

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