Monday Quickies: Madison Lilley Edition

In the words of Gabby Curry: it’s a good thing history is written by winners.

By John Morgan Francis@MonJorgan Apr 26, 2021, 6:28am EDT

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Winning a National Championship takes every single player’s best efforts. We’ve seen that first-hand with other Kentucky Wildcats athletic programs, and the last couple of weeks weren’t any different for the Kentucky Wildcats Volleyball program.

The Lady Wildcats did snow angels in the confetti Saturday night, defeating Texas 3-1 in the Big Game. Though Kentucky received an all-out effort from their veteran squad, the Wildcats’ did indeed have a player that stood out above everyone else across the country.

Madison Lilley, Kentucky senior setter and this season’s SEC player of the year, was recognized as the Most Outstanding Player of the NCAA Tournament.

Sure, her performances this season were absolutely stellar. However, she saved her strongest outing for the Big Game.

Lilley recorded 53 assists on Saturday in addition to her career high 19 digs. She bested her tournament average of 13 assists per set and blew away her average of 3 digs per set. Joining Lilley on the All-Tournament team were Alli Stumler and Avery Skinner. Such an outstanding stretch of five matches for the star senior and of her fellow Lady Wildcats.

Tweet(s) of the day

University of Kentucky athletes to both be named National Player of the Year and be a part of an NCAA Division I national championship team in the same season (I forgot two in my previous tweet):

Jack Givens

Anthony Davis

Henrik Larsen

Mary Tucker

Madison Lilley
— Corey Price (@coreyp08) April 25, 2021

Lilley joins a unique group of UK legends.

It'll be an interesting week. But I won't be surprised if this is how the top-5 picks play out Thursday night...

1. JAX: Trevor Lawrence
2. NYJ: Zach Wilson
3. SF: Trey Lance
4. ATL: Kyle Pitts
5. CIN: Ja'Marr Chase
— Dane Brugler (@dpbrugler) April 26, 2021