No. 14 Kentucky Sweeps Ole Miss in Oxford for Third-Straight Win
OXFORD, Miss. – The No. 14 Kentucky Volleyball team swept Ole Miss in convincing fashion Sunday afternoon 3-0 (25-18, 26-24, 25-13) at the Gillom Athletics Event Center in Oxford, Mississippi as the Wildcats picked up their third-straight win in the process.
Brooklyn DeLeye led the Kentucky offensive attack with 17 kills on 38 swings Sunday for a .316 hitting percentage and four digs thrown in with an ace, as well. DeLeye was the only UK player to reach double figures scoring as setter Emma Grome had one of her most balanced days offensively for the Wildcats on Sunday with Megan Wilson recording nine kills on just 18 swings as she hit .444 for the match.
Freshman Asia Thigpen continued to add a new dimension to the UK offense with nine kills on 20 swings and six digs to push the Wildcats across the finish line with an ace thrown in, as well, her third-straight match with an ace.
As a team, Kentucky hit .270 for the match, but it was the UK defense that set the standard Sunday afternoon, holding the Rebels to just .038 hitting as a team with 17 hitting errors and 34 digs for the Kentucky backline. Molly Tuozzo ran her streak of 10+ digs to 15 in a row thanks to an 11-dig effort versus the Rebels as she also added in four assists and a pair of service aces to the box score. Emma Grome had 38 assists on the afternoon and a pair of solo blocks to lead UK’s defensive efforts.
Sunday put a bow on Kentucky’s October schedule as UK wraps up the month 5-1 and now sits 12-7 overall on the season. UK now sits alone in second place, one game out of first place in the Southeastern Conference with a 6-2 league record.
UK will next play at South Carolina on Friday night. First serve is set for 7 p.m. ET and the match will be broadcasted live on SEC Network+ and the ESPN app.
Set One
Kentucky won the first three points of the match, all off of Molly Tuozzo’s serving as the Wildcats jumped out to a 3-0 lead to begin the affair. Ole Miss then won five of the next six points to take its first lead at 5-4 as Kentucky had a hitting error in the middle of the rally on a freeball. After Ole Miss knotted the score at 11-11 in the opening frame, UK went on a 4-0 run to the media timeout with an ace by Molly Tuozzo to give the Wildcats the 15-11 lead at the media timeout. Following back-to-back attack errors by the Rebels, Kentucky took its largest advantage of the match at 18-13 and the Rebels called their first timeout of the set down five. Asia Thigpen hammered home her third kill of the match off an extended-rally to give Kentucky a 21-14 lead and Ole Miss took its final timeout. Megan Wilson terminated to give Kentucky the first set, 25-18.
Set Two
It was another strong start for Kentucky in the second set as the Wildcats raced out to an 8-3 lead thanks to the terminal nature of Brooklyn DeLeye and three Ole Miss hitting errors that pushed the Rebels into an early timeout. The lead ballooned to seven in the next phase of the set as Kentucky’s Brooke Bultema had a stuff block out of the middle to make the score 12-5 and UK was off and running from there. After things were looking easy for Kentucky at 17-10, the Rebels stormed back to tie the set at 21-21 with some huge stuff blocks and Kentucky making some uncharacteristic mistakes on floor defense. DeLeye got the Wildcats out of the rut to make things 22-21 and Kentucky took a 24-22 lead but Ole Miss called a stoppage and won the next two points after a UK service error followed by an attack error. A Brooklyn DeLeye sideout gave UK another set point at 25-24 and Kentucky secured the set with a 26-24 victory thanks to a Rebel attack error as UK took a two sets to none lead in the match.
Set Three
Kentucky raced out to a 13-5 lead in the third set thanks to a huge run on the serve of Asia Thigpen and then the blocking of Jordyn Dailey and Brooke Bultema out of the middle. The Wildcats hit .720 as a team through the first 18 points of the set and Ole Miss decided to burn its first timeout down eight at 13-5. Molly Tuozzo went on a 6-0 service run, her longest of the match as Kentucky extended its lead to the largest of any set in the match, at 19-6 following a challenge that was won by head coach Craig Skinner. Kentucky ran its lead to 23-9 and closed out the road sweep with a third-set win.
For the latest on UK Volleyball, follow the Wildcats on Twitter and Instagram at @KentuckyVB.
