Almost everything has been different than normal during a 2020-21 college athletics year playing out during a pandemic.
The one constant has been the University of Kentucky volleyball team. Coronavirus or no coronavirus, all the Wildcats do is win.
Kentucky swept Alabama 3-0 in its regular-season finale in Memorial Coliseum on Thursday night to win its fourth consecutive Southeastern Conference championship — a feat no team has achieved since 2010.
Kentucky finishes the 2020-21 season with a 19-1 record playing an all-SEC schedule. Its series against Texas A&M and South Carolina that were postponed because of COVID-19 will not be made up.
Women’s volleyball is normally a fall sport that concludes with the NCAA championship in December. After initial concern that a 2020 season would be played at all because of the pandemic, the NCAA decided to move its championship to April 2021, giving schools time to schedule games across the fall and/or spring as conditions permitted.
The Wildcats opened their season Oct. 16 with a victory in Lexington over Tennessee and went on to win all eight of their matches in October and November.
After an 11-week winter break, the team resumed play Jan. 29 and reeled off four more victories. COVID-19 forced another disruption the weekends of Feb. 20-21 and 26-27 when two matches each against South Carolina and Texas A&M were called off.
Again, Kentucky got right back to winning, sweeping two matches from LSU and a pair from Ole Miss.
The Wildcats suffered their only defeat last Friday, dropping a hard-fought match to Florida, 3-2.
Kentucky set things straight to close the regular season, blanking Alabama 3-0 on both Wednesday and Thursday this week.
UK took Thursday’s match 25-16, 25-9, 25-14.
Avery Skinner and Azhani Tealer led UK with 11 kills Thursday, and junior Alli Stumler had 10. Tealer recorded her 11 kills on just 14 swings.
Tealer also had a team-high six blocks, and Skinner added five. Gabby Curry contributed 12 digs and two assists. Madison Lilley had 29 assists, four kills and a pair of blocks.
Kentucky’s championship clinched the SEC’s automatic spot for the NCAA Tournament. The entire 48-team event will play out in Omaha, Neb., from April 14-24.
The NCAA Tournament bracket will be revealed Sunday, April 4 at 4 p.m. during the NCAA Volleyball Selection Show on ESPNU.
Kentucky, currently ranked third in the nation behind Wisconsin and Texas, qualified for the NCAA Tournament for the 16th time in Craig Skinner’s 16 seasons as head coach and now will look to advance to a Final Four for the first time.
Top-10 softball matchup
The seventh-ranked UK softball team (23-3, 1-2 SEC) hosts No. 4 Alabama (25-2, 5-1) for three games this weekend at John Cropp Stadium in Lexington.
Game times are 2 p.m. Saturday (SEC Network Plus), 3:30 p.m. Sunday (ESPN2) and 7 p.m. Monday (SEC Network).
While both teams are flying high in the nation’s top 10, both took a hit this week.
Kentucky suffered its first non-conference loss of the season Wednesday night, falling 2-1 in nine innings at Western Kentucky.
Meanwhile, Alabama learned starting second baseman Bailey Dowling will miss the rest of the season after tearing an ACL last weekend against Tennessee.
Alabama’s roster features two Kentuckians — senior first baseman Kaylee Tow from Madisonville and junior pitcher Montana Fouts from East Carter. Tow has started every game for Alabama this season and is batting .372 with three homers and 22 RBI. Fouts (9-2, 1.18 ERA, 113 strikeouts) is likely to pitch this weekend against the Wildcats.