UKVB to host Mississippi State in Memorial Coliseum
LEXINGTON – October 5, 2021
The No. 5 Kentucky Volleyball team will continue its Southeastern Conference schedule Wednesday night, as it hosts Mississippi State at 6 p.m. ET inside Memorial Coliseum. The match will be televised on ESPNU, ESPN3 and the ESPN app with Sam Gore and Jennifer Fowler on the call.
Tickets to Wednesday night’s match are on sale and can be purchased at UKathletics.com/tickets. All tickets for the 2021 Kentucky Volleyball season are mobile and masks are required for all indoor spaces of the University, including Memorial Coliseum.
Kentucky is 9-3 on the season and 2-0 in the Southeastern Conference having knocked off Missouri and Ole Miss in league play. Mississippi State under the direction of fourth-year head coach Julie Darty Dennis is 12-4, 3-1 with an SEC win over Florida under its belt as the Bulldogs are off to one of their best starts in program history.
UK leads the all-time series with Mississippi State 53-2 with UK having won the last 14 matches in a row dating back to 2011. Kentucky last met MSU in Starkville, Mississippi last season in the fall, where UK won both matches of a two-match series.
Madi Skinner leads the Kentucky offense with 3.98 kills per set as a sophomore, followed closely by Alli Stumler’s 3.28 kills per set as UK has the second-highest ranked hitting percentage in the SEC. Junior middle blocker Azhani Tealer is averaging 1.21 blocks per set to lead all UK players with freshman Libero Eleanor Beavin digging over 2.5 balls per set and now has 5+ matches in a row of double-digit digs.
With the first release of the NCAA RPI, Kentucky is slotted in the No. 8 position, as one of four SEC teams in the top 25 of the ratings percentage index. UK has the No. 16 strength of schedule currently and has the No. 7 non-conference strength of schedule.
Kentucky is the only remaining undefeated team in SEC play.
