Head coach Craig Skinner hired a familiar face as his Director of Operations in four-year manager Kristen Sanford Vicini, on May 3, 2016. Sanford spent four seasons splitting her time between student manager and student worker for the Kentucky volleyball program before working in event management during her first year of graduate school.

Vicini handles the day-to-day operations of the volleyball office in addition to coordinating recruiting visits, travel, planning of home tournaments and the highly-successful UK volleyball camps.

Kentucky has captured two Southeastern Conference Championships and advanced to two NCAA Regional Semifinals and one NCAA Regional Final with Vicini serving as the director of operations. UK has had 11 players earn All-America distinction and 14 named to the All-SEC squads.

A 2015 Kentucky graduate with a degree in psychology, Vicini also earned a minor in communications. She earned a master’s degree from UK in kinesiology and health promotion: sport leadership in 2015 and is currently pursing a second master’s in sport and exercise psychology.

Vicini is immersed in a variety of avenues. She spearheads the collaboration, marketing and organization of the UK volleyball camps. Her responsibilities include assisting the camp director in management of operations, registration, collecting and filing registration and medical forms, oversight of transportation between facilities, apparel sales and serving as the head dorm monitor for overnight camps.

Within the office, she organizes flight and hotel travel arrangements for team travel and dealt with purchasing policies and procedures. Vicini has formed numerous initiatives for fans including “Chalk Talk” with the coaches prior to Southeastern Conference home Sunday matches. Vicini is also the major contributor, organizer and executioner of the annual UK volleyball banquet.

During her tenure as director of operations and dating back to her time as a student manager, she has been a part of the planning committee and assisted in all facets of the production of eight NCAA volleyball tournaments, including three NCAA Regional Championships.

During the 2015-16 season, Sanford did not stray far from the volleyball program as she served within the event management department responsible for events within Memorial Coliseum. She helped coordinate not only the setup for all events, but served as a direct liaison in a multitude of facets including visiting team liaison and coordinating staffing of event workers.