True freshman Kassie O’Brien is battling redshirt sophomore Ava Sarafa to be UK’s starting setter

For the last eight years Kentucky coach Craig Skinner has not had to worry about  who the team’s setter would be. All-American Madison Lilley, the 2020 national player of the year, started four seasons and then Emma Grome stepped in and also became multiple All-American.

This season Skinner has to find a new setter and admits “it is kind of exciting” after Lilley and Grome between them played every match for the last eight years.

“Now it’s a competition and again, I don’t want to bring up a guy named (former Indiana men’s basketball coach) Bobby Knight who always said the biggest motivator was the bench and if you’re not playing, where are you?”
Skinner said.  “I don’t view that in this situation because they’re both really internally motivated people and we have two great options.”

Ava Sarafa, a 6-foot redshirt sophomore, was a three-time state champion in Michigan and winner of the Andi Collins award that goes to the nation’s most outstanding senior setter — Sarafa had over 5,000 assists in high school. She was also named national player of the year by Vballrecruiter.com. She filled a serving specialist role last year with Grome at setter.

Kassie O’Brien, a 6-foot-1 true freshman, had over 4,000 assists in high school and helped her team reach the 6A state tourney in Texas for only the second time in school history.

“Both of them got equal chances on the court in the spring,” Skinner said. “We really weren’t trying to win matches in the spring, so that was by design. They both looked good in camp working with their teams and doing demonstrations.

“Ava came in from a program that won three straight state championships in the state of Michigan and has been here for three years. Kassie O’Brien’s club team competed for a national championship every year and she was very highly regarded as a recruit coming out of high school. So we have two great options right now.”