Eva Hudson had 14 kills to lead No. 3 Kentucky past Ole Miss 3-0 (25-18, 25-21, 25-19) Friday night.
The Wildcats have put together three consecutive sweeps to open SEC play.
Here’s a game recap from UK Athletics:
OXFORD, Miss. – Thanks to 14 kills from Eva Hudson and a team .393 hitting percentage, the No. 3 Kentucky Wildcats picked up their third-straight sweep to start Southeastern Conference play Friday night 3-0 (25-18, 25-21, 25-19) over the Ole Miss Rebels at the Gillom Events Center.
Kentucky never trailed in any of the three sets at any point Friday night as the Wildcats hit .393 as a team with 42 kills and only nine errors while holding the Rebels to a .220 hitting percentage as a team with 15 errors and 14 service errors. UK had two players record double-figure kills as Hudson was joined by Brooklyn DeLeye who had 11 kills on 25 swings with only one error on the night. Molly Tuozzo led the way for the UK defense with 14 digs Friday night and freshman setter Kassie O’Brien led the Kentucky offense with 34 assists and three blocks to go alongside.
Lizzie Carr had four stuffs to lead UK at the net as Brooke Bultema also had a stand-out night with a pair of blocks and eight kills on 13 swings.
UK is now 10-2 overall on the year as it continues one of its best starts in program history. The Wildcats will take the rest of the weekend off to prepare for its highly-anticipated top-10 match in College Station next week as it faces No. 9 Texas A&M on Wednesday night in Reed Arena at 7 p.m. ET live on SEC Network and the ESPN app with Alex Loeb and Shelby Coppedge on the call.
Set 1
Kentucky took the opening set 25-18 behind a .394 hitting percentage to get the night going in Oxford. The Wildcats jumped out to an 11-5 lead thanks to a 6-0 service run from Molly Berezowitz that forced the Rebels into an early timeout in the proceedings. An extended-rally kill by Eva Hudson logged a 17-10 lead for UK as Hudson hit .375 in the opening set with three kills and no errors as a kill by Brooke Bultema out of the middle extended the UK lead to eight at 18-10 and Ole Miss called its final timeout. The Rebels had three points in a row out of the timeout for its longest run of the set, but Bultema’s third kill stopped the rally and Kentucky cruised to the finish, winning the opening set 25-18. Kassie O’Brien had 12 assists as Molly Tuozzo led the way with six digs.
Set 2
UK held Ole Miss to .059 hitting in the second set en route to a 25-21 frame to take a 2-0 lead in the match. Kentucky raced out of the gates to an early 6-2 lead thanks to a pair of kills from Eva Hudson and DeLeye to push the UK lead to five, which grew to six at 11-5 and Ole Miss burned its first timeout down a set-high six points at the time. With Brooke Bultema’s sixth kill of the set, Kentucky had a 14-9 lead and stopped a 3-0 Ole Miss mini run in the frame. Kentucky had to call its only timeout when the Rebels went on a 3-0 run to cut things to 16-14, but it was Bultema again that bailed out the Wildcats with a kill out of the middle to restore order. Ole Miss called its final timeout when Kentucky took a 21-17 lead off an attack error and that paved the way for the stretch run as UK took a 2-0 lead and the second set, 25-21.
Set 3
Kentucky took an 8-4 lead thanks to a service error by the Rebels, one of 14 on the night for Ole Miss, as once again UK got off to a good start in the set. After a miscommunication by the Rebels on one of Ava Sarafa’s serves that dropped leading to Kentucky’s third ace of the night, Ole Miss called for its final timeout with Kentucky leading 14-7 and doubling up the Rebs. Later in the set, Kentucky used a 5-1 run to balloon the lead to nine at 19-10 thanks to an out-of-system kill by Brooklyn DeLeye followed by a cross-court termination from Eva Hudson. Ole Miss cut the lead to five, but Kentucky held on with a 25-19 final set win.
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