This win had been a long time coming.

For the first time since 1989, the Kentucky volleyball team went down to Gainesville, Fla., and defeated the 18-time Southeastern Conference defending champions at their own place. The Cats, despite getting hammered 25-9 in the first set and falling behind 2-1, came back to win a thrilling five-set match (9-25, 25-19, 23-25, 25-20, 15-11).

Head coach Craig Skinner, usually a reserved and composed coach, couldn’t hide his emotions when I managed to get him on the phone a few minutes ago.

“I’m feeling pretty darn good,” Skinner said.

As he should. Although there is still more than half of the conference slate to play, it gives the Cats the early inside track in league play. With the win and the Florida loss, the No. 15 Cats are the only undefeated team in the SEC.

“I’ve never seen anything like the first two sets,” Skinner said. “We hit negative in the first set and they hit negative in the second set, so I think it was just a matter of feeling our way. The focus of our team never really wavered and I thought that was really important. You could probably ask our players and they really wouldn’t have known what the score was most of the time.

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