After letting a 2-0 lead slip though their fingers, the Tigers were defeated at home by No. 6 ranked Kentucky. Friday’s match against the Wildcats was the first time the Tigers have lost in the Maravich Center this season.
Both teams fought hard, but the Wildcats’ energy kicked in early in the third set allowing them to change the pace and win the match. 
Although the Tigers fell short head coach Fran Flory said she was proud of their performance against the highly ranked team, and she hopes Friday night’s game will give the Tigers the confidence they need to compete against Tennessee on Sunday. 
“You know I thought we gave an incredible effort and we had our chances, and we just didn’t quite play clean enough at critical times to either catch them or expand the lead,” Flory said. 
The Tigers started out strong winning the first two sets, but were outplayed by the Wildcats in the last three. 
“You know when you jump on a team like that in the first two sets you can’t let them off the mat, and we let them off the mat,” Flory said. “You have to give them credit they rose to the occasion and they’re a top ten program, they’re a top ten team and they have an incredibly talented lineup.”
The Tigers didn’t give up easily holding the Wildcats to their lowest hitting percentage for the year at .199, and their effort did not go unnoticed. 
“We had the game plan to beat them, we had the situation to beat them, we had the match up to beat them and we were just a few plays short,” Flory said. 
The Tigers will be back in the PMAC Sunday afternoon to host the Tennessee Volunteers at 1 p.m.
“I’m super proud of my team, I’m proud of their effort. We’ll all always be disappointed that we didn’t finish it, we will always look back at this match and say that’s one that if we would have made a couple more plays it maybe could have been different,” Flory said.