No. 7 Texas Sweeps No. 12 Kentucky on Sunday, 3-0
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The No. 7 Texas Longhorns swept No. 12 Kentucky 3-0 (25-21, 25-19, 25-17) on Sunday afternoon inside Historic Memorial Coliseum in front of 4,834 fans, the sixth-largest crowd in program history.
The Longhorns outblocked the Wildcats by a two-to-one ratio as Texas recorded 14 stuffs and Kentucky recording seven on the afternoon. UT had a .281 hitting percentage Sunday afternoon in Lexington, and was able to hold the high-powered Kentucky offense to just .089 hitting with 32 kills and a season-high 23 attack errors for a set of four sets or less.
The Wildcats offensive leader was Brooklyn DeLeye, who had 12 kills on 33 swings with three digs and a block to go alongside her double-digit kill effort. Emma Grome recorded 29 assists, breaking a streak of 11-straight matches where the UK setter has been at 30 or more assists. The Wildcats floor defense was paced by sophomore libero Molly Tuozzo, who had 12 digs.
Kentucky, who falls to 9-7 and 3-2 in the Southeastern Conference, will next play at Tennessee as it opens a five-match road swing on Wednesday night at 6:30 p.m. ET. The match will be broadcasted on SEC Network+ and the ESPN app from Food City Arena at Thompson-Boling Arena in Knoxville. Texas is now 10-3 on the season and becomes the first SEC team to reach 5-0 on the conference season. Sunday was the only match-up of the season between the Wildcats and Longhorns.
Set One
Going into the media timeout, Texas was on a 3-0 run and pushed its opening-set lead to five at 15-10, the largest lead for the Longhorns to that point. Out of the timeout, Kentucky chose to challenge the previous play and there was a touch determined by the review and the point overturned to the Wildcats, as UK pulled to within four. A 3-0 scoring run for Kentucky punctuated by a Megan Wilson stuff on the right pin pulled UK even at 17-17 and Texas called its first timeout with honors even in the opening set. Texas then closed the set on an 8-4 run buoyed by a pair of UK service errors and a kill from the back row to end the opening frame, 25-21. Texas hit .222 offensively as Kentucky was held to a .114 attack percentage with only 12 kills compared to eight hitting errors.
Set Two
Texas jumped out to an early lead in the second set, scoring the first three point to grab a 3-0 advantage before the Wildcats scored their first point, and that lead grew in size to five after two solo stuffs by UT to give the Horns a 9-4 lead and push Kentucky into an early timeout. Texas ballooned its lead to a set-high six points after an extended-rally termination and down six at 18-12, Kentucky called its second timeout of the frame. After Kentucky grabbed set point at 24-15, the Wildcats ran off four in a row with a Brooke Bultema block on the left pin pushing UK to 24-19 and forcing Texas to use its first timeout. Out of the timeout, the Kentucky attack was blocked for the ninth time in the match and UT took a 25-19 second set for the 2-0 lead.
Set Three
The Longhorns again came out of the gates strong, with an 8-4 lead through the opening 12 points of the frame and then the lead grew to five following a block from the Horns to make things 12-7 and Kentucky, needing to win the set to extend the match, called its first timeout. After another extended-rally kill, the Longhorns grew their lead to 19-12 and the Wildcats called their final timeout of the set down seven. Texas closed things out from there and won the third set, 25-17.
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