Men’s Soccer Advances to NCAA Sweet 16
No. 1 seeded Kentucky men’s soccer (15-0-5, 5-0-3 Sun Belt) defeated South Florida (9-7-4, 5-1-3 American) 4-0 to advance to the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 on Sunday night at the Wendell & Vickie Bell Soccer Complex. After receiving a first-round bye, the Wildcats kicked off its tournament run in front of 1,182 members of Big Blue Nation who bundled up to Pack the Bell. Kentucky had four different goal scorers in 90 minutes of regulation in Martin Soereide, Casper Grening, Clay Holstad and Max Miller.
Tealer’s 11 Kills, 7 Blocks Pull Kentucky Back into SEC Title Race
Azhani Tealer had 11 kills, hit .333 and stuffed seven blocks on Sunday afternoon as the Kentucky Volleyball team pulled back even atop the Southeastern Conference standings with Florida thanks to a 3-0 (25-21, 26-24, 25-17) sweep of the Gators in Exactech Arena. With Saturday and Sunday’s series split with Florida, the Gators and Wildcats will enter the final weekend of the 2022 Southeastern Conference season tied with a 13-3 record in league play. Florida plays at Ole Miss and Kentucky hosts a series with South Carolina. The SEC does not break ties for a volleyball championship, so if both teams end with the same record, the league will declare the teams co-champions. The UK/USC series begins on Friday at 4 p.m. ET inside Memorial Coliseum, with that match also marking Senior Day. Tickets are available at UKathletics.com/tickets.
No. 20 Hilltoppers Fall to Rice in Five Sets in C-USA Championship Final
Picking up only their third five-set match of the year, the nationally-ranked No. 20 Hilltopper Volleyball program fell to in-conference rival, Rice in a nail-biting 2-3 set loss the Conference USA Volleyball Tournament Championship match. In picking up the same amount of points (91) as the Owls in five sets, the Hilltoppers stuffed more blocks and picked up more from the service line than Rice in front of a Diddle Arena crowd of 1,858.
Racers Fall in MVC Tournament First-Round
Murray State volleyball’s inaugural Missouri Valley campaign comes to a close in the first round of the conference tournament in a 3-0 loss to Valparaiso on Sunday in Evansville, Ind. The Racers made it to the tournament in their first season in the league, placing seventh in the regular season with a conference record of 8-10. MSU was on the wrong end of three close sets as the Beacons took won the day 25-22, 25-19 and 26-24. Already the winningest coach in program history, David Schwepker begins his 25th season in 2023 just three wins short of his 400th career win.