Kentucky Wins First Volleyball National Championship [VIDEO]
Yes, you read that right. The University of Kentucky women's volleyball team won the school's first national championship on Saturday defeating Texas in four sets. It's a huge accomplishment after a week that saw the death of former men's basketball player Terrence Clarke.
If you're like me, well, if you're a WKU grad, you know their women's volleyball team has done well in the past couple of years and they made it all the way to the quarterfinals in this year's tournament before losing to, you guessed it, the Wildcats. Kentucky only dropped two sets the tournament, one to Washington in the semifinals and one in the title game. They also lost their only regular season match to another SEC school, Florida.
Here's the final point of the Wildcats' championship victory over the Longhorns:
Texas forced two match points and that's 6'1" junior Alli Stumler with the winning kill. During the season, the pandemic forced cancellations of sporting events and limited in-person fans. A national championship brings not only the University of Kentucky a unexpected amount of joy, but it brings national attention to our state which is rich with volleyball talent.
One key, height is an advantage in volleyball, so much so, that tall girls are not just basketball players anymore. Your hitters and blockers are usually 5'10" and taller.
So is Kentucky a volleyball school now?