Seeking first championship, UK volleyball earns No. 2 overall seed in NCAA Tournament
Aiming to earn the program’s first trip to the Final Four, the red-hot University of Kentucky volleyball team learned its NCAA Tournament path on Sunday.
The Wildcats, who rose one spot to No. 2 in the final AVCA coaches’ poll of the season, are the No. 2 overall seed. It’s UK’s best seed in program history.
Kentucky (19-1) will open its NCAA Tournament run April 15 against the winner of an April 14 match between UNLV and Illinois State.
As a top-16 overall seed, the Wildcats get a first-round bye. The 48-team field was revealed during the NCAA Volleyball Selection Show on ESPNU on Sunday.
Louisville, Morehead State and Western Kentucky are also in the field.
In a normal year, the top 16 seeds would host four-team regionals to open the tournament. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the entire event will play out in Omaha, Neb., from April 14-24 this season.
The Wildcats earned an automatic bid into the field by winning the Southeastern Conference championship for the fourth straight time. UK has qualified for the NCAA Tournament in each of head coach Craig Skinner’s 16 seasons.
Skinner has been impressed by the Wildcats’ ability to navigate each curve ball thrown at them during an unprecedented season.
“I have never worried about our team being ready for the next challenge,” Skinner said during a teleconference following the Selection Show. “They’ve just been prepared each and every time.
“We’re going to have to have fun. We have got to enjoy it because we didn’t know if we were going to play tomorrow all-year long and now we’re getting this chance. We’ve got to have fun when we get out there.”
The Wildcats tore through an SEC-only schedule, winning all eight of their matches in October and November. After an 11-week break, the Cats got right back to their dominant ways. Their only loss was a 3-2 setback at No. 6 Florida on March 19.
The Cats rebounded by defeating the Gators 3-0 the following day, then sweeping their final two matches. UK ended the regular season two games clear of second-place Florida in the SEC standings.
The Wildcats piled up league honors. Madison Lilley was voted SEC Player of the Year, Gabby Curry was voted SEC Libero of the Year and Skinner was named SEC Co-Coach of the Year.
Lilley and Curry were joined on the 18-player All-SEC squad by teammates Avery Skinner, Madi Skinner, Alli Stumler and Azhani Tealer. Madi Skinner also made the SEC All-Freshman Team.
Skinner viewed UK’s abundance of SEC accolades as a sign of how far the program has advanced in recent years.
“When I first got here in 2005 I dreamed of being in the same conversation as the program I left at Nebraska. My first coaching job was at Wisconsin. You still look at those programs, where they are, we dreamed about that back then,” Skinner said. “For them to be recognized the way they were on the All-SEC team is phenomenal … No way we’d be in that situation 10 years ago.”
Big Ten champion Wisconsin (15-0) — which was ranked No. 1 in the AVCA coaches’ poll the entire season — is the NCAA Tournament’s No. 1 overall seed.
Louisville (14-2) is the No. 11 seed and will open its tournament run April 15 against the winner of the first-round match between San Diego and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
OVC champion Morehead State (16-1) earned an automatic bid and will face Creighton in the first round on April 14. Conference USA champion Western Kentucky (21-0) will face Jackson State in the first round on April 14.
Florida (19-3) is the No. 8 seed. Missouri was the only other SEC team to earn an at-large bid.
This story was originally published April 4, 2021 at 6:05 PM.
