No. 7 Pittsburgh swept No. 3 Kentucky 3-0 (25-19, 25-22, 25-23) Wednesday night in Forth Worth, Texas.
The Wildcats fell to 3-2 on the season with both losses coming against top 10 teams.
Brooklyn DeLeye recorded her 1,000th-career kill during the loss.
Here are more details from UK Athletics:
FORT WORTH, Texas – Brooklyn DeLeye notched her 1,000th-career kill Wednesday night, but No. 3 Kentucky fell in three sets to No. 7 Pittsburgh 3-0 (25-19, 25-22, 25-23).
Brooklyn DeLeye became the 19th player all-time at Kentucky to record 1,000 career kills in the match, as she clobbered a set from Kassie O’Brien into the open court for Kentucky’s 15th point of the set in the third. She ended the match with 14 kills on 37 swings with a .297 hitting percentage, three assists and five digs.
The loss for Kentucky is its second of the season as the Wildcats fall to 3-2 on the year with Wednesday night’s defeat. Both losses for UK are to top-10 ranked teams in the country.
Kentucky will play its first home match on Saturday afternoon as it opens the 2025 season of volleyball in Historic Memorial Coliseum with the Bluegrass Battle, welcoming in No. 10 SMU, No. 17 Purdue and Houston to Lexington. UK will play No. 10 SMU on Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m. ET and will host Houston at 2 p.m. ET on Sunday. Purdue will play Houston at Noon ET on Saturday with SMU playing Purdue on Sunday at 11 a.m. ET leading into the UK/Houston match.
Admission to Saturday’s home opener versus SMU is free, as fans are welcome to attend with open seating protocols in place. Sunday’s match will be a ticketed match as fans can purchase seats at UKathletics.com/tickets.
Set 1
UK started out the first set well, as it found the connection with Brooke Bultema off the bat and she led Kentucky to a quick 6-3 lead, which was the largest advantage for the Wildcats in the set. Pitt quickly turned the set around winning four of the next five points to take an 8-7 lead and it was a lead the Panthers wouldn’t relinquish the rest of the set. Pitt led 15-12 at the media timeout and the Wildcats would equalize on a Brooklyn DeLeye swing to make things 16-16 before Pitt ran off four in a row and push UK into its first timeout. Pitt gained set point at 24-19 and won the set on an ace out of Kentucky’s final timeout. UK hit .281 in the set but Pitt hit .560 against UK and had only two errors on 25 swings.
Set 2
Set two pictured out similar to the opening frame as Kentucky took the early lead in the first handful of points, but Pitt stormed back to take the lead and Kentucky was pushed into an early timeout at 13-9 down four points. The Wildcats creeped back into the thick of things and closed the gap to one point at 21-20 following a kill from Eva Hudson on the pin, but Pitt then closed with authority and won four of the final six points to claim a 2-0 lead with a 25-22 second set victory. UK hit .282 for the set and Pitt hit .333 with 15 kills and four errors for the Panthers in the second frame. The difference in the opening two sets was the Pitt block, which to that point in the match had six total team blocks as opposed to only two for the Wildcats.
Set 3
Kentucky went on its first 3-0 run of the entire match in the third set to take a 10-7 lead, its first three-point lead since it was 6-3 Kentucky in the early stages of the first set on the night. Pittsburgh responded by winning the next five successive points to make things 13-11 in favor of the Panthers and Pitt took a 15-14 lead into the media break. UK had to call time with Pitt closing in on 20 first at 19-17 but UK responded with back-to-back kills with swings from DeLeye and Asia Thigpen to make things 20-20. Pitt then took control down the stretch and closed out the match in straight sets.
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