Are losses to nation’s elite making UK volleyball better? ‘We’ve made a lot of growth.’

“To be the best, you have to play the best” is an adage often spoken at the highest levels of sport. The Kentucky volleyball team takes that to heart every single season.

However, when you repeatedly play the best but rarely beat the best, what does that mean?

Kentucky head coach Craig Skinner had a ready answer after his 11th-ranked Wildcats’ loss to No. 4 Louisville in Memorial Coliseum on Wednesday night, UK’s fourth defeat in four attempts this season against teams ranked above them.

“Against top-five teams, each opportunity you get, you’ve got to capitalize on the moment,” Skinner said. “We let a couple slip away. Just trying to find ways to continue to get kills in three, four or five different positions consistently is the way you’re going to be able to compete and beat top-five teams.”

Kentucky lost to then-No. 2 Nebraska 3-1 in its season opener on Aug. 27 in Louisville. It fell 3-2 to then-No. 7 Penn State on Sept. 6 in Memorial Coliseum. Then came a 3-1 loss Sept. 14 in Dallas to then-No. 7 Purdue before Wednesday’s 3-1 defeat at the hands of the archrival Cardinals — U of L’s fourth straight win in the series.

“We’ve got to continue to get better,” Skinner said after the latest loss. “And we’ve been here before, and another great chance the next couple days, to get ready for Stanford.”

That’s right, UK (6-4) wraps up nonconference play Saturday night at No. 2 Stanford (7-1) in another nationally televised match (ESPN2, 10:30 p.m. EDT). The Cardinal suffered their first loss of the season 3-0 Wednesday night at No. 5 Nebraska.

The Wildcats will dodge no bullets this season. Awaiting in SEC play are four-time national champion Texas (1988, 2012, 2022, 2023), currently ranked No. 8, along with No. 15 Tennessee, No. 16 Florida and No. 25 Arkansas.

Kentucky volleyball enjoying sustained success

How does Skinner keep his chin up during stretches like this — when effort and performance don’t always translate to results?

Like he said, “We’ve been here before.”

UK athletics director Mitch Barnhart hired Skinner as the new leader of Kentucky volleyball in December 2004.

The Wildcats hadn’t qualified for the NCAA Tournament since 1993, had never lifted a national championship trophy and were in need of a revitalization. Enter Skinner who, since taking over, has not only won the program’s first national title (2020-21) but has yet to miss an NCAA Tournament or deliver a losing season.

His list of accolades is extensive — seven consecutive SEC championships (2017-23) and the 2020-21 American Volleyball Coaches’ Association National Coach of the Year award among them — and his résumé is just as stacked; prior to accepting his first head coaching gig in Lexington, he served as an assistant under legendary coach and four-time national champion John Cook, both at Wisconsin (1994-96) and Nebraska (2000-04), and worked as an assistant with the men’s program at Ball State, Skinner’s alma mater, from 1999-2000.

All that to say, Skinner hasn’t just developed an understanding of how to succeed in the ultra-competitive world of Division I volleyball — over the course of three decades, he’s figured out how to sustain it.

‘You’re either getting better or you’re getting worse’

There isn’t a perfect guidebook to that sustained success, but Skinner’s decades of experience have shown him the value of a difficult nonconference schedule when pushing to be a regular on the national stage. And, based on his success with the Wildcats — the similar “iron sharpens iron” approach demonstrated year in and year out by powerhouses Nebraska, Stanford, Texas and Wisconsin, among others — it’s hard to argue.

Going 0-4 against elite opponents this season might be a tough pill for some fans to swallow, but Skinner has been in similar situations before, and still leads the only SEC program ever to win an NCAA championship. Last season, which brought the program’s seventh consecutive SEC title and its ninth NCAA Sweet 16 appearance since 2009, began with a nonconference record of 2-6, with just one win over a ranked opponent in No. 21 Houston. The 2022 season began with a nonconference record of 5-4, with only two ranked wins.

When asked after the loss to Louisville if he was satisfied with what his team was learning through the difficult schedule so far, Skinner said he was, as long as the team continues to push toward improvement.

“I’m satisfied to this point, but we still have a ways to go,” Skinner said. “So the question is, ‘are we going to continue to invest in ourselves, our teammates and the process to get to that point?’ Because if you stop and rest, not (have) the motivation to continue to get better, then you take steps backward. So you’re either getting better or you’re getting worse. And our job is to execute at a higher clip, to put our energy into, ‘what are the areas of improvement we need?’ And we’ve made a lot of growth. ... And every team is different in when it all clicks.”

Though only Skinner himself and player-turned-assistant coach Madison Lilley remain from the 2020-21 national title team, it’s not the case that the Wildcats lack the talent or vision to continue their mission. After Kentucky’s home-opening victory over Northern Kentucky, senior libero Eleanor Beavin noted the importance of ignoring the pressure of the past and forging a new identity. It’s those concepts — and the lessons learned while battling the best of the best, win or lose — that keep Skinner’s deeply ingrained culture intact, and keep the Wildcats’ sights set on greatness.

“We know that we want a new identity,” Beavin said. “I think that was a big thing for us, and that the whole national championship team is gone besides Mads, as our coach. Staff is much different. So it’s creating our own identity, and knowing what the people on the team we have now can give, not ‘let’s try to replicate what they did four years ago.’ It’s all about now. And I think that’s kind of the identity we’re trying to work toward.”

‘Execution suffered at times.’ How No. 4 Louisville beat No. 11 Kentucky volleyball — again