Kentucky Wildcats women's volleyball

Kentucky Wildcats women's volleyball
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 semifinal
2020*
AIAW/NCAA Regional Final
1987, 1988, 1990, 1992, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2017, 2018, 2020*, 2022, 2023, 2024
AIAW/NCAA regional semifinal
1983, 1987, 1988, 1990, 1992, 1993, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020*, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024
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
Conference tournament champion
SEC 1979, 1980, 1983, 1987
Conference regular season champion
SEC 1979, 1980, 1983, 1987, 1988, 2009, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 * 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 lead the team to 20 consecutive NCAA Tournaments. He has also lead the Wildcats to SEC championships every year from 2017 to 2024. As of the end of the 2024 season, he has a record of 467–155. ^[2]

Year	Head Coach	Overall Record	Conference Record	Conference Standing	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 Sweet Sixteen
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 Elite Eight
1988	Kathy Deboer	26–7	7–0	1st	NCAA Elite Eight
1989	Kathy Deboer	24–11	6–2	3rd	–
1990	Kathy Deboer	22–12	7–1	2nd	NCAA Elite Eight
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	–
2006	Craig Skinner	19–12	11–9	4th	NCAA Sweet Sixteen
2007	Craig Skinner	22–10	13–7	4th	NCAA Sweet Sixteen
2008	Craig Skinner	26–6	17–3	2nd	NCAA Sweet Sixteen
2009	Craig Skinner	29–5	17–3	1st	NCAA Elite Eight
2010	Craig Skinner	17–14	11–9	5th	NCAA Sweet Sixteen
2011	Craig Skinner	28–5	17–3	2nd	NCAA Elite Eight
2012	Craig Skinner	22–11	14–6	4th	NCAA Elite Eight
2013	Craig Skinner	22–9	13–5	3rd	NCAA Sweet Sixteen
2014	Craig Skinner	27–6	15–3	2nd	NCAA Sweet Sixteen
2015	Craig Skinner	21–10	14–4	3rd	NCAA Sweet Sixteen
2016	Craig Skinner	23–8	15–3	3rd	NCAA Sweet Sixteen
2017	Craig Skinner	29–4	17–1	1st	NCAA Elite Eight
2018	Craig Skinner	26–5	18–0	1st	NCAA Elite Eight
2019	Craig Skinner	25–7	16–2	T-1st	NCAA Elite Eight
2020	Craig Skinner	24–1	19–1	1st	NCAA National Champions
2021	Craig Skinner	25–5	17–1	1st	NCAA Sweet Sixteen
2022	Craig Skinner	22–8	15–3	1st	NCAA Elite Eight
2023	Craig Skinner	21–8	17–1	1st	NCAA Elite Eight
2024	Craig Skinner	23–8	14–2	1st	NCAA Elite Eight
Total		1055–535–1	455–207

See also

• List of NCAA Division I women's volleyball programs

References

1. "Primary Color Palette". University of Kentucky Athletics Brand Identity Guidelines (PDF). February 5, 2016. Retrieved August 3, 2017.
2. "2025 UK Volleyball factbook" (PDF). University of Kentucky. Retrieved 19 October 2025.
3. "Special Collections Research Center". University of Kentucky libraries. Retrieved 21 October 2025.
4. "History of Women's Athletics in the SEC". Southeastern Conference . Retrieved 21 October 2025.
5. "UK Volleyball Athletic Awards". UK Athletics. Retrieved 22 October 2025.
6. "Kathy DeBoer to Join the AVCA Hall of Fame". AVCA.