Kentucky Wildcats women's volleyball
| Kentucky Wildcats women's volleyball | |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1977 |
| University | University of Kentucky |
| Head coach | Craig Skinner (21st season) |
| Conference | SEC |
| Location | Lexington, Kentucky |
| Home arena | Memorial Coliseum (capacity: 6,250) |
| Nickname | Kentucky Wildcats |
| Colors | Blue and white[1] |
| AIAW/NCAA Tournament champion | |
| 2020* | |
| AIAW/NCAA Tournament runner-up | |
| 2025 | |
| AIAW/NCAA Tournament semifinal | |
| 2020*, 2025 | |
| AIAW/NCAA Regional Final | |
| 1983, 1987, 2017, 2020*, 2024, 2025 | |
| AIAW/NCAA regional semifinal | |
| 1983, 1987, 1988, 1990, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020*, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025 | |
| AIAW/NCAA Tournament appearance | |
| 1983, 1987, 1988, 1990, 1992, 1993, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020*, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025 | |
| Conference tournament champion | |
| SEC 1979, 1980, 1983, 1987, 2025 | |
| Conference regular season champion | |
| SEC 1979, 1980, 1983, 1987, 1988, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025 * Tournament played in spring 2021; season officially labeled "2020–21" by the NCAA | |
The Kentucky Wildcats women's volleyball team represents the University of Kentucky in NCAA Division I intercollegiate women's volleyball competition. Kentucky is a founding member of the Southeastern Conference (SEC). The Wildcats have been led by Craig Skinner since 2005.
The program became an official varsity sport in 1977 and has won the SEC regular season 14 times and won the NCAA championship in 2020.
Program record and history
The University of Kentucky first fielded a women's volleyball team in the fall of 1977. Since then the Wildcats have been to the NCAA Tournament 26 times, and won the won the SEC regular season 14 times.[2]
Delphine Nemeth era (1977–1981)
The program was started in 1977 under coach Delphine Nemeth who was also a nurse anesthesiologist at the University of Kentucky hospital.[3] The team competed in the Kentucky Women's Intercollegiate Conference (KWIC) as part of the AIWA and the Southeastern Conference (SEC) during this time. During this time, the SEC had the first women's volleyball conference championship, which was won by Kentucky over Tennessee in 1979.[4] She was named KWIC Coach of the Year in 1979.[5] Her record as coach was 126–74–1.
Mary Jo Peppler era (1982–1983)
Mary Jo Peppler took over the program along with Marilyn McReavy in 1982 and they were named the SEC coaches of the year in 1983.[5] They had a record of 65–21.[2]
Kathy Deboer era (1984–1991)
Kathy Deboer took over the program in 1984. She had a record of 209–97.[2] In 1987 when the team won the SEC Championship and the SEC Tournament Championship, she was named SEC coach of the year and NCAA coach of the year.[5] Deboer later served as the executive director of the American Volleyball Coaches Association for 17 years.[6]
Fran Flory era (1992–1997)
Fran Flory took over the program in 1992. She had a record of 78–80.[2]
Jona Braden era (1998–2004)
Jona Braden took over the program in 1998. She had a record of 90–119. The team had consecutive winning seasons for the first time since 1992–93.[2]
Craig Skinner era (2005–present)
Craig Skinner took over the program in 2005. He is the winningest coach in Kentucky volleyball history and led Kentucky to their first-ever NCAA volleyball national championship in 2020.[2] Skinner has led the team to 20 consecutive NCAA Tournaments. He has also led the Wildcats to SEC championships every year from 2017 to 2025. The Cats won the SEC postseason volleyball tournament in 2025, which had not been played since 2005. As of the end of the 2025 season, he has a record of 498–157.[2]
| Year | Head Coach | Overall Record |
Conference Record |
Conference Record |
Postseason | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (Kentucky Women's Intercollegiate Conference) (1977–1980) | ||||||||
| 1977 | Delphine Nemeth | 19–14 | – | – | ||||
| 1978 | Delphine Nemeth | 32–22 | 6–3 | – | AIAW Region II Champions | |||
| 1979 | Delphine Nemeth | 35–18–1 | 6–2 | – | – | |||
| 1980 | Delphine Nemeth | 39–8 | 8–0 | – | – | |||
| (SEC) (1981–present) | ||||||||
| 1981 | Delphine Nemeth | 20–12 | 4–0 | – | ||||
| 1982 | Mary Jo Peppler | 21–14 | 3–1 | 9th | – | |||
| 1983 | Mary Jo Peppler | 44–7 | 5–0 | 1st | NCAA Regional Final | |||
| 1984 | Kathy Deboer | 21–8 | 6–0 | 2nd | – | |||
| 1985 | Kathy Deboer | 14–23 | 2–4 | 6th | – | |||
| 1986 | Kathy Deboer | 22–12 | 4–2 | 3rd | – | |||
| 1987 | Kathy Deboer | 31–2 | 7–0 | 1st | NCAA Regional Final | |||
| 1988 | Kathy Deboer | 26–7 | 7–0 | 1st | NCAA Round of 16 | |||
| 1989 | Kathy Deboer | 24–11 | 6–2 | 3rd | – | |||
| 1990 | Kathy Deboer | 22–12 | 7–1 | 2nd | NCAA Round of 16 | |||
| 1991 | Kathy Deboer | 24–13 | 8–6 | 4th | – | |||
| 1992 | Fran Flory | 25–9 | 10–4 | 3rd | – | |||
| 1993 | Fran Flory | 29–4 | 12–2 | 3rd | NCAA Second Round | |||
| 1994 | Fran Flory | 13–21 | 8–6 | 3rd | – | |||
| 1995 | Fran Flory | 10–18 | 7–7 | 3rd East | – | |||
| 1996 | Fran Flory | 12–20 | 8–6 | 3rd East | – | |||
| 1997 | Fran Flory | 14–17 | 4–10 | 5th East | – | |||
| 1998 | Jona Braden | 16–14 | 7–9 | 5th East | – | |||
| 1999 | Jona Braden | 16–15 | 6–8 | 4th East | – | |||
| 2000 | Jona Braden | 6–21 | 3–11 | 5th East | – | |||
| 2001 | Jona Braden | 13–15 | 6–8 | 7th | – | |||
| 2002 | Jona Braden | 13–18 | 6–10 | 8th | – | |||
| 2003 | Jona Braden | 14–18 | 6–10 | 8th | – | |||
| 2004 | Jona Braden | 12–18 | 3–13 | 10th | – | |||
| 2005 | Craig Skinner | 17–12 | 10–6 | 5th | NCAA First Round | |||
| 2006 | Craig Skinner | 19–12 | 11–9 | 4th | NCAA 2nd Round | |||
| 2007 | Craig Skinner | 22–10 | 13–7 | 4th | NCAA First Round | |||
| 2008 | Craig Skinner | 26–6 | 17–3 | 2nd | NCAA First Round | |||
| 2009 | Craig Skinner | 29–5 | 17–3 | 2nd | NCAA Round of 16 | |||
| 2010 | Craig Skinner | 17–14 | 11–9 | T–5th | NCAA First Round | |||
| 2011 | Craig Skinner | 28–5 | 17–3 | 2nd | NCAA Round of 16 | |||
| 2012 | Craig Skinner | 22–11 | 14–6 | 4th | NCAA Round of 16 | |||
| 2013 | Craig Skinner | 22–9 | 13–5 | 3rd | NCAA Second Round | |||
| 2014 | Craig Skinner | 27–6 | 15–3 | 2nd | NCAA Second Round | |||
| 2015 | Craig Skinner | 21–10 | 14–4 | T–2nd | NCAA First Round | |||
| 2016 | Craig Skinner | 23–8 | 15–3 | 3rd | NCAA Second Round | |||
| 2017 | Craig Skinner | 29–4 | 17–1 | T–1st | NCAA Regional Final | |||
| 2018 | Craig Skinner | 26–5 | 18–0 | 1st | NCAA Round of 16 | |||
| 2019 | Craig Skinner | 25–7 | 16–2 | T–1st | NCAA Round of 16 | |||
| 2020 | Craig Skinner | 24–1 | 19–1 | 1st | NCAA National Champions | |||
| 2021 | Craig Skinner | 25–5 | 17–1 | 1st | NCAA Second Round | |||
| 2022 | Craig Skinner | 22–8 | 15–3 | T–1st | NCAA Round of 16 | |||
| 2023 | Craig Skinner | 21–8 | 17–1 | 1st | NCAA Round of 16 | |||
| 2024 | Craig Skinner | 23–8 | 14–2 | 1st | NCAA Regional Final | |||
| 2025 | Craig Skinner | 30–3 | 15–0 | 1st | NCAA Runner-up | |||
| Total | 1085–538–1 | 470–207 | ||||||
See also
References
- ^ "Primary Color Palette". University of Kentucky Athletics Brand Identity Guidelines (PDF). February 5, 2016. Retrieved August 3, 2017.
- ^ a b c d e f g "2025 UK Volleyball factbook" (PDF). University of Kentucky. Retrieved 19 October 2025.
- ^ "Special Collections Research Center". University of Kentucky libraries. Retrieved 21 October 2025.
- ^ "History of Women's Athletics in the SEC". Southeastern Conference. Retrieved 21 October 2025.
- ^ a b c "UK Volleyball Athletic Awards". UK Athletics. Retrieved 22 October 2025.
- ^ "Kathy DeBoer to Join the AVCA Hall of Fame". AVCA.