LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — The Kentucky Volleyball team has a top-10 matchup Friday night when Penn State visits Historic Memorial Coliseum to kick off the Kentucky Invitational. The team opened a new chapter at the renovated venue with three victories, and the story continues against the Nittany Lions.
“Tomorrow night, top-10 nonconference showdown on national TV, it’s kind of the best of the best,” said Chris Shoals, UK Athletics Assistant Director of Athletics Communications and Public Relations.
While the team adds another page to its season, it will also celebrate National Read a Book Day by asking fans to bring in books.
“We’ve come up with the idea of doing a book drive,” Shoals said, “and those books being donated to the hospital so that people who are receiving treatment or people who are on the mend out of treatment can have those books.”
Shoals expects a big crowd for Friday’s top-10 showdown, and he hopes it will translate to a big book donation.
“All of our gates are going to be open tomorrow,” Shoals said for the fans showing up. “When they come in the gates there will be certain designated zones that they can drop those books off. It’s going to be a terrific crowd and if they participate in the book drive it’s going to be a terrific win-win for everybody.”
In the coming weeks, the team will get together to deliver the books to the hospital as well. Big games and community activities like this that give the team an opportunity to come together and show how much they appreciate Big Blue Nation.
“UK Athletics is the front porch of the university,” said Shoals. “We have a lot of visibility, a lot of people care about athletics, a lot of people see our logo and they know immediately what it is. We want to find a way to give back as much as we can as well, and this is just one of the many ways we figure is important to do so.”
Kentucky takes on Penn State Friday night at 7 p.m. Fans are encouraged to bring children’s books for the book drive.
