No. 9 Kentucky volleyball falls to No. 2 Nebraska to open 2024 season
The ninth-ranked Kentucky volleyball team began its gauntlet of a 2024 schedule on Tuesday night with a hard-fought 3-1 (25-21, 22-25, 25-15, 25-20) loss to No. 2 Nebraska in the American Volleyball Coaches’ Association First Serve Showcase at the KFC Yum Center in Louisville.
It marked the Cornhuskers’ 11th consecutive victory over the Wildcats, and provided Big Blue Nation a taste of what the new-look Wildcats roster has to offer in this historic season.
Four seasons removed from its first-ever NCAA national championship, the Wildcats enter the 2024 campaign as a top-10 program from a loaded Southeastern Conference with a tremendous amount of potential.
In Tuesday’s season-opening match, UK took an early, first-set lead of 15-11 over the decorated Cornhuskers before Nebraska worked its way back to steal the first set from UK. The second set saw the Wildcats trail from the jump, until a massive momentum shift lifted UK from an 11-6 deficit to tie the set at 14, and an eventual, much-needed win to take the second set and even the score. From that point forward, everything came up Nebraska. The Cornhuskers delivered a dominant showing in the third set, and fended off a respectable fourth-set comeback attempt by UK to claim their first victory of the 2024 season.
Junior middle blocker Rebekah Allick led the charge for Nebraska, recording 11 kills in 15 attempts and 10 block assists. Allick accounted for 18 points across four sets.
Sophomore outside hitter Brooklyn DeLeye and senior outside hitter Erin Lamb shone for the Wildcats. DeLeye recorded 19 kills and six digs, while Lamb contributed 14 kills. Senior libero Eleanor Beavin totaled 23 digs and four assists. UK also saw great efforts from redshirt freshman middle blocker Jordyn Dailey and true freshman outside hitter Asia Thigpen.
The nationally televised AVCA First Serve Showcase, which served as the first games of the 2024 NCAA season, also featured another top-10 matchup in No. 6 Louisville vs. No. 3 Wisconsin. The Cardinals, who hadn’t defeated the Badgers since 1985, earned the upset with an 18-25, 25-17, 26-24, 25-20 win.
UK head coach Craig Skinner has stacked the Wildcats’ nonconference schedule, with the team set to face off against No. 7 Penn State on Sept. 6, No. 6 Louisville on Sept. 18 and No. 5 Stanford on Sept. 21 before Southeastern Conference play begins with a match against Auburn on Sept. 27. UK got its first taste of competition against No. 22 Dayton in a closed exhibition, and will also face touted programs Western Kentucky and SMU, both of whom received top 25 votes in the preseason poll. The Wildcats are also scheduled to play either Purdue or Houston, the latter of which received top 25 votes, on Sept. 14 in Dallas.
UK will play its home opener Friday at 6:30 p.m. against Northern Kentucky in the first game of the Bluegrass Battle, which also serves as the debut for the “new” Memorial Coliseum fresh off its $82 million renovation.
Six SEC programs are ranked in the AVCA preseason top 25 — reigning, back-to-back national champion and league newcomer Texas (No. 1), UK, Florida (No. 11), Tennessee (No. 15), Arkansas (No. 19) and Georgia (No. 25). Auburn and Missouri each received top 25 votes. In 2020-21, Kentucky won its first NCAA national championship in program history with a 3-1 victory over the Texas Longhorns, and have reached the third round of the NCAA Tournament each year since.
The Wildcats posted a 3-7 record in their first 10 games last season, then won 18 consecutive games en route to an NCAA Tournament regional semifinal appearance before falling to fellow SEC member Arkansas in the third round.
