DeLeye’s 16 Terminations Hand No. 14 Kentucky 3-0 Sweep of UGA
ATHENS, Ga. – Sophomore outside hitter Brooklyn DeLeye had 16 kills Sunday afternoon in Stegeman Coliseum as No. 14 Kentucky completed its season-long five-match road trip 5-0 thanks to a 3-0 (26-24, 25-15, 25-16) win over Georgia and held its position in the three-way tie atop the Southeastern Conference with the win.
DeLeye was the only player from either team to eclipse double-figure kills in the match as she hit .464 on her 28 swings with 16 kills and six digs to go alongside. The Wildcats as a team hit .356 thanks to the elite setting of Emma Grome, who tallied 40 assists, her highest total this year in any three-set match played.
UK’s defense took center stage Sunday as the Wildcats held Georgia to .088 hitting in the match, including hitting even at .000 in the third set alone with only seven kills on 26 attacks and forcing seven errors. Jordyn Dailey had six blocks in the contest to lead all players, including two on the final two points of the match as Kentucky secured the road win.
Kentucky finishes its five-match road swing with a 5-0 record and sweeps in four of the five matches as the Wildcats are playing their best volleyball of the season as the calendar flips into November. After five matches on the road, Kentucky will return home to the friendly confines of Historic Memorial Coliseum as it opens a five-match homestand beginning Friday night at 7 p.m. ET against Texas A&M. The match will be broadcasted live on SEC Network+ and the ESPN app from HMC.
UK with the win Sunday improves to a season-high seven games above .500 on the year and now sits 14-7 on the year. With its fifth-straight win, Kentucky is 8-2 in Southeastern Conference play, sitting at a tie atop the league standings with Missouri (7-2) and Texas.
Set One
The first six points of the match all went the way of the Bulldogs as UGA jetted out to a 6-0 start in the opening set. Kentucky then went on a 5-0 run to cut the lead to one before an Asia Thigpen solo block on the left pin squared the set for the first time at 9-9. Georgia won four of the next five points thanks to the terminal killing of Bianna Muoneke who pushed the lead to 15-11, four points, as the first media timeout was reached. A huge stuff by Brooke Bultema and Emma Grome pulled Kentucky to within a point at 19-18 and with UK on a 3-0 run, Georgia called its first timeout of the set with UK within one. Another stuff out of the timeout pulled UK even with UGA as the Wildcats made things 19-19. After back-to-back service errors by the Wildcats, UK took a timeout trailing 23-22 as the Bulldogs were just two points from the set. Each team traded a sideout and with UGA leading 24-23, UK burned its final timeout. Asia Thigpen forced UGA into two contacts as Kentucky took its first lead of the set at 25-24 and then she hammered home her third kill of the set to give Kentucky the 26-24 set win as UK hit .250 and took the opener from as much as six points down to start the frame.
Set Two
The second set was a much different story as Molly Tuozzo sprinted Kentucky out to a 4-0 lead thanks to an ace and an extended service run that pushed Georgia into an early timeout down four. Kentucky then won five of the next six points on Brooklyn DeLeye’s serve with Thigpen and Bultema getting going offensively as Georgia took its second timeout trailing by seven points at 9-2. Kentucky’s lead ballooned to a set-high nine points when it took a 15-6 lead before the Bulldogs ran off four in a row with two back-to-back aces that pushed Kentucky into its first timeout of the set leading 15-10. Kentucky closed out the set with a 25-15 win as its defense held the Bulldogs to .087 in the set and got three blocks from Brooke Bultema to lead the way. With the set win, Kentucky took a two sets to none lead on UGA.
Set Three
In what was the tightest start to an opening sequence of the match, Kentucky finally created the first large degree of separation as it used a Molly Tuozzo 4-0 service run to make things 14-11 and prior to the media timeout, UGA called its first stop to play with a timeout of their own. The lead grew to five on a kill by Brooke Bultema, her second of the set and seventh of the match to give Kentucky the 18-13 lead as UK stood just seven points from the finish line to the match. Georgia took its second timeout after a bad set and Kentucky led 20-14.
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