Kentucky Volleyball Completes Big Week With Sweep of Washington

Hudson’s 28 kills not only set a new program record for the most kills ever by a Kentucky player in a three-set match, but it also marked the first time a player in NCAA Volleyball had 28 kills or more in a three-set match since Cincinnati’s Jordan Thompson had 28 against SMU on Oct. 27, 2019 according to ESPN’s Stats & Research department. The Kentucky record for kills in a three-set match was 22 and it was set by outsider hitter Leah Edmond on Nov. 18, 2018 in a 22 kill performance at Missouri.

Hudson’s 28 kills came with just three errors on 52 swings as she hit .481, the highest hitting percentage for a UK attacker in a single match with 10+ kills all season. She also threw in eight digs and didn’t commit a single reception error in the match despite being served 14 times by the Huskies elite servers.

The Wildcats hit .271 for the match Saturday afternoon as Hudson’s 28 kills were by far enough to tame the Huskies offense, who was held to hitting just .198 on the afternoon with 16 attack errors and eight blocks from the UK defense paced by four players recording two or more stuffs in the match. Kentucky grew into the match as it progressed, winning the first set despite siding out below 60 percent in the first set and ballooning that into a 72 percent number by the time the third set rolled around.

Kentucky with the win Saturday afternoon puts a bow on a 7-2 non-conference slate of matches that ends with wins over teams from the Big Ten, ACC and Big 12 along the way. The Wildcats also notched three top-10 wins in the non-conference, with wins over No. 3 Louisville, No. 5 Penn State and No. 10 SMU along the way. UK will enter Southeastern Conference play this week, kicking off Wednesday at 7 p.m. ET for a match against South Carolina inside Historic Memorial Coliseum. The match will be televised by SEC Network and stream live on the ESPN app and Disney+.

Set 1

Washington led a majority of the opening set, taking a 20-14 lead into Kentucky’s second timeout of the set with the Huskies down to needing just five points to claim the frame. Kentucky then went on a 7-1 run powered by Eva Hudson’s right arm with two bic attack points and a kill from Brooklyn DeLeye on the left pin that pushed Kentucky into the lead at 22-21 as the Huskies called their final timeout of the set. UK trailed by as many as six points but picked up set point at 24-22 thanks to a kill by DeLeye and a tipped ball through the block and down, Kentucky took the opener, 25-23 to claim a 1-0 lead in the match. UK hit just .167 in the set with eight hitting errors, but a seismic eight digs by Molly Tuozzo kept the Wildcats in it long enough to make a run and ultimately capitalize on the UW mistakes down the stretch to take the lead.

Set 2

For the second-consecutive set it was Kentucky using a late-set run to thwart itself to a set victory as the Wildcats came from down 23-20 to run off four in a row and ultimately close things out on its third set point at 27-25. UK led 8-5 in the early going of the set to push the lead to a three-point edge before the Huskies ran off four In five to cut into the Kentucky lead at 17-14 later in the set. UW took its first lead of the second at 21-20 and then followed that up with two blocks in a row to make things 23-20 and Kentucky burned its second timeout with the Huskies two points from evening the match. Brooklyn DeLeye sided out for the Wildcats to make things 23-21 and Kennedy Washington then stuffed a ball with Brooke Bultema’s assistance to make it 23-22 and forced UW into a timeout. Kentucky got a kill from Eva Hudson, her 16th of the match to make things 24-22 and UW then took the following two points to make things a deuce set. The set appeared to be over at 26-24 before a Washington challenge was successful that overturned set point and made things 25-25. Brooklyn DeLeye then got her seventh kill on an extended rally and Eva Hudson ended the match off a nice transition kill from Molly Tuozzo as Kentucky took a 2-0 lead in the match with a 27-25 second set win.

Set 3

Kentucky hit .311 as a team in the third set an cruised to a 25-20 third-set victory to clinch the sweep. Ava Sarafa entered the match to set for UK, logging 13 assists without an error and pushing Kentucky to 16 sideouts in 22 attempts. Washington won the first four points of the set to make things 4-0, but UK steadied its ship and tied things up for the first time at 10-10. The run extended to 5-0 on a kill by Hudson from a long rally on the right pin that made things 16-13 UK and Washington called its first timeout. The Huskies called their final timout after Brooke Bultema found the floor for her seventh kill out of the middle to make things 20-17 and from there, UK ran away with things and closed out the sweep.