Five things to watch as 10th-ranked Kentucky begins 2023 volleyball season

Days before the start of his 19th season leading Kentucky women’s volleyball, head coach Craig Skinner declared this one of the years in which he’s seen the most change to the program.

“Six new players,” Skinner said. “A new associate head coach (Ben Josephson), a new assistant coach (Madison Lilley), the climate of college athletics. I mean there’s just so many different things going on.”

Not to mention, of course, a move to Rupp Arena for this season while Memorial Coliseum undergoes an $82 million renovation. But regardless of where the Wildcats will play their home matches, the expectations remain high.

So high, in fact, the American Volleyball Coaches Association recently placed UK No. 10 in its national preseason rankings after last year’s sixth straight SEC title and third-round exit in the NCAA Tournament. Per UK Athletics, this is the fourth time in the last five years the program has opened a season ranked inside the top 10. Its highest preseason ranking ever came in 2020 when the team entered the year at No. 2 ahead of its NCAA title.

Now a few years removed from that historic national championship, the team has plenty to be excited about despite quite a bit of shakeup.

Following last week’s 3-1 exhibition victory against Western Kentucky, Skinner walked away with a better understanding of his team’s strengths and, maybe more importantly, where it needs to improve.

“We have a lot of players that can perform, and offensively we have a chance to do some special things,” Skinner said. “We need to get a little bit better defensively and serving consistency … if we could just keep the theme of aggressive serving and be relentless that way, but you know, find ways to be a little bit more consistent, I think we’ll be good. But a lot of options, which we were very limited in some positions, especially last year.”

On Friday, the Wildcats will open regular-season play at Colorado State. Here are five things to keep in mind as the 2023 season begins.

New home

The UK volleyball attendance record sits at just under 10,000, and Skinner and his team are determined to break that in their temporary home of Rupp Arena.

“I think it definitely would be a home-court advantage like Memorial,” Skinner said. “But in a completely different way.”

Skinner called the major renovation project to longtime home Memorial Coliseum a “dream come true.” But, in the interim, the Wildcats must embrace a new type of home-court advantage. The team has played in Rupp Arena before, with a victorious outing against Mississippi State in 2012, but the longer term residency requires a shift in approach.

More specifically, Rupp Arena’s size meant serious consideration of depth perception and sight lines.

“It’s a bigger venue,” Skinner said. “We were a little worried about depth perception, but to be honest with you, I didn’t think that was a factor. It’s a little different depth perception than Memorial. I think the sight lines are good. I think the lighting is obviously fantastic. The sound system, the environment. You wonder like with that big of a place, do you still feel a sporting event, and we did. Albeit different than Memorial Coliseum, I still think it’s a great place and looking forward to some great opportunities for our fans.”

It’s not just vision that comes to mind with a change in venue; one of those differences, air conditioning, is a huge relief.

“I don’t even know where to begin with that,” Skinner said. “But you know, we’ve had seven practices now, all in air conditioning, and we’ve probably had to wipe the floor, I can count less than five. If this was last year in Memorial Coliseum we would stop every play. So that takes away repetitions, it takes away time. You know it’s just a huge advantage.”

New faces

The Wildcats dipped into the transfer portal to add junior outside hitter Megan Wilson, who arrives in Lexington after two seasons with Oklahoma. As a sophomore with the Sooners, Wilson was named to the All-Big 12 team and averaged 3.64 kills per set and 4.60 points per set while hitting .241 on the season.

“Megan’s had a great few days of practice,” Skinner said. “She looked like a deer in headlights in spring, to be honest with you. I mean, a lot of things going in and out of her brain. But she has been very good the last couple of days and performing and competing and you know, when you’re 6-5 and can attack the ball at that point, it gives you an advantage. So, she’s doing well.”

UK also welcomes freshmen Ava Sarafa, Jordyn Dailey, Brooke Bultema, Molly Tuozzo and Brooklyn DeLeye, all of whom Skinner said are rising to the occasion.

“They’re gonna make my job very difficult,” Skinner said. “And in a good way, because they’re gonna give themselves opportunities to play. They’re already doing that. The physicality that they bring is impressive. And the speed, I mean, they just do things naturally that other people can’t. And they just, you know, we say in our program ‘character is culture,’ and they just bring an enormous amount of character to our program, like the people they’re joining. So if you recruit that first, you got a chance to be consistent.”

A trio of All-Americans

Though bringing in six newcomers comes with a degree of uncertainty, it’s hard to lack confidence with three returning All-Americans.

Especially if one of those names is Azhani Tealer.

The fifth-year middle blocker — and 2022 AVCA Second Team All-American — announced on last year’s Senior Day she’d be returning for a fifth and final season with the program. And according to Skinner, she’s better than ever.

“Her maturity and experience is significant for us,” Skinner said. “Because she’s been through so many different situations. The cool thing is when you see a fifth-year player perform at a higher level than they did in their fourth year, it says something about her, obviously, individually, but it also says a lot about the program that you still want to get better and you’re still driving and driven to achieve the next level.”

Also returning is senior outside hitter Reagan Rutherford, a 2022 AVCA Third Team All-American, and junior setter Emma Grome, who was both a 2022 AVCA Second Team All-American and the SEC Player of the Year.

Grome is poised for another big year, the UK head coach said.

“Her resume speaks for itself as a player here at Kentucky,” Skinner said. “... But her experience as a professional, you know, learning how to adapt, adjust to different situations is huge for a setter. And she has a ton of confidence and a ton of intuition about the game that she can relay to our setters, especially, and others, but her experiences will really give those guys an advantage.”

If asked who’s standing out, Skinner will say he needs a list to remember them all. Whether it’s the All-Americans, or fellow upperclassmen Eleanor Beavin, Elise Goetzinger and Lane Jenkins, Skinner said everybody is making a difference.

“All of our returners have gotten better,” Skinner said. “... I’m gonna miss someone, you know, every single one of our returners has gotten stronger in the weight room over the summer. (We) were a little rough in the spring. I mean, we lost to Louisville in five. We lost to Pittsburgh, we lost to AU (Athletes Unlimited). And so I’m not concerned about that, but the way we’re playing right now in practice, you can tell they’ve been working on over the summer.”

Road tripping

A few Wildcats have deemed themselves “Road Warriors” ahead of opening the season with two consecutive matches in Colorado. And, though Skinner admits you always want to play with a home-court advantage, he said the differences and challenges of starting with a road trip have their benefits.

“Some people say when you’re on the road there’s no distraction other than playing the game,” Skinner said. “You’re not trying to fight for tickets for people and fans and friends and family and you know, people want to go out to dinner or hang out with you before the game. I mean, you’re on the road, you’re together as a group. You’re doing your routine. It’s us against the world.”

It’s UK against the world and some worthy competitors.

“We’re playing against two very good teams,” Skinner said. “Colorado State’s picked to finished super high in the Mountain West and Northern Colorado always wins their conference, took a set off San Diego last year in the first round of the tournament, so two great matches for us to start the season.”

For Skinner and his team, a successful opening weekend isn’t just about winning. It’s about bringing all the strides made in the offseason into the match environment.

“Transferring what we’re doing in training into competition,” Skinner said. “And seeing if the things we’re working on is smoothing out, getting better, more consistent, more efficient. And just that we’re ready for competition, so to speak and not, you know, deer in the headlights. And I don’t think we will because I think we have some veterans and I think we have some competitive younger people, but being able to execute the things we’re training in practice, and is our training preparing us for the moment?”

Expectations and respect

Though high expectations are the norm in recent history, Skinner hasn’t forgotten what it felt like at the start of his first season with the Wildcats nearly two decades ago.

“A little different than our first tournament in Clemson in 2005 when we had no idea what we’re doing,” Skinner said. “But (high expectations are) a sign of respect, I guess. You know, you’re top 10 in the country, you’re expected to perform, you’re expected to be good. But we’ve recruited all those players for that expectation. So I guess it’s kind of what we feel and what we think should happen when you’re on the road, that you do get everybody’s best. ... We will get a lot of punches, and I can’t wait to see our team respond to it.”

Colorado State and Northern Colorado are the first stops along the path to the greater goal of another national title, but Skinner and his team have more than a few challengers.

“We’re gonna play some really good teams who serve really tough,” Skinner said. “And so we’ll get tested early, but you know, that’s what we want.”

The regular season home opener on Sept. 1 is an 84 Lumber Volleyball Classic showdown against No. 5 Pitt, who UK will face again Sept. 3 in Pittsburgh. Rival Louisville, who will host the Wildcats on Sept. 13, checked in at No. 4 in the AVCA rankings. Kentucky will visit co-No. 5 Nebraska on Sept. 17. Two SEC opponents, No. 11 Florida and No. 25 Arkansas, join UK in the rankings.

“Obviously, winning the national championship is difficult,” Skinner said. “In our sport, only 12 universities in the entire country have ever done it. We were the 11th, Wisconsin was the 12th. We were the first SEC. So it’s a challenge. But you need to be physical, you need to play clean, you need to serve really tough. Because our game is so physical.”

UK’s season opener at Colorado State will be streamed at 9 p.m. EDT on the Mountain West Digital Network. Saturday’s match against Northern Colorado will stream on ESPN Plus at 8 p.m.

“Just as every coach says in America,” Skinner said. “Excited to get going with our first match.”

2023 Kentucky volleyball schedule

Home matches in all capital letters.

All home matches in Rupp Arena.

Aug. 25: At Colorado State, 9 p.m. (Mountain West Network)

Aug. 26: At Northern Colorado, 8 p.m. (ESPN Plus)

Sept. 1: PITTSBURGH, 7 p.m. (SEC Network)

Sept. 3: At Pittsburgh, Noon (ACC Network)

Sept. 8: Houston, 4 p.m. (Big Ten Network Plus)-x

Sept. 9: SMU or Purdue, TBA (Big Ten Network Plus)-x

Sept. 13: At Louisville, 8 p.m. (ESPN)-y

Sept. 17: At Nebraska, 7:30 p.m. (Big Ten Network)

Sept. 22: LSU, 7 p.m.

Sept. 24: TENNESSEE, 3 p.m. (ESPN or ESPN2)

Sept. 29: At Georgia, 7 p.m. (SEC Network)

Oct. 1: At Alabama, 2 p.m.

Oct. 6: At Missouri, 7:30 p.m.

Oct. 8: OLE MISS, 1:30 p.m.

Oct. 15: At Tennessee, 5 p.m. (SEC Network)

Oct. 20: MISSISSIPPI STATE, 7 p.m.

Oct. 22: ARKANSAS, 1 p.m. (SEC Network)

Oct. 27: At LSU, 9 p.m. (SEC Network)

Nov. 3: At South Carolina, 7 p.m.

Nov. 5: At Florida, 4 p.m. (ESPN2)

Nov. 8: At Auburn, 7:30 p.m.

Nov. 12: GEORGIA, 1 p.m. (SEC Network)

Nov. 16: TEXAS A&M, 7 p.m.

Nov. 19: MISSOURI, 1:30 p.m.

Nov. 22: At Arkansas, 8 p.m.

Nov. 25: FLORIDA, 1 p.m.

x-Stacey Clark Classic at West Lafayette, Ind.; y-At the KFC Yum Center.