No. 1 Nebraska Wins Final Three Sets to Beat No. 7 Kentucky

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The No. 1 Nebraska Cornhuskers came back from two sets to none down to beat No. 7 Kentucky 3-2 on Sunday afternoon at the 2025 Broadway Block Party inside Bridgestone Arena in downtown Nashville.

UK took the opening two sets 26-24 and 25-20 as the Wildcats were hitting above .230 for both of the opening sets and pin hitters Eva Hudson and Brooklyn DeLeye were controlling the match for UK. DeLeye ended the match with 23 kills, the most of anyone in the match for either team and Eva Hudson had 19 putaways on 65 swings Sunday afternoon, as she threw in two solo stuffs, as well.

Kentucky hit .168 as a team for the match, while Nebraska, who was hitting .222 through two sets, ended up hitting at a .221 clip for all five sets, while holding UK to a negative percentage in the fifth set on its 14 attacks. Both teams ended the match with 12 blocks and Ava Sarafa had 43 assists for UK with two aces, two kills and a half dozen blocks thrown in.

UK is now 1-1 on the season through the opening weekend of play, having beat Lipscomb on Saturday prior to Sunday’s match with Nebraska. The Wildcats will play No. 2 Penn State on Friday night in State College, Pennsylvania at 8 p.m. ET on FOX National as UK continues its non-conference run through of all four NCAA Final Four teams from a season ago.

Set 1

Nebraska took a four-point lead in the early parts of the opening set at 8-4 following back-to-back attack errors by the Wildcats. Brooklyn DeLeye hammered a ball past the Husker block and then Eva Hudson scored on a ball to the corner that pushed the Wildcats back within two as the sides were very even through the most parts of the opening set. NU re-took a four-point edge on an extended rally at 13-8 and that prompted Kentucky’s first timeout of the match. DeLeye hammered a kill and Brooke Bultema, sent her first kill to the floor to give the Wildcats two-straight and three out of four off the timeout and UK pulled to within 14-11 as the opening set reached the midway mark. Kentucky pulled even at 16-16 for the first time since it was 3-3 on a thunderous kill from Asia Thigpen on the right pin from a strong swing and that sent Nebraska into its first timeout of the match with honors even. Brooke Bultema stuffed her third block of the match to give UK its first lead at 19-18 and Nebraska took its final timeout one point later at 20-18 with Kentucky ahead by a match-high two points. Kentucky picked up set point at 24-23 and on its third set point of 25-24 after a few Nebraska sideouts, a Nebraska attack went long and UK picked up a 26-24 opening-set win. It was Kentucky’s first set win over a No. 1 ranked team since 2017.

Set 2

Kentucky raced out of the second set to a 9-7 lead and following four-straight kills from pin hitters Eva Hudson and Brooklyn DeLeye, the Huskers called a timeout down by two having already dropped the first set. The Wildcats then saw the Huskers use solid service pressure to push back and take a 12-11 lead following a 3-0 run and Kentucky burned its first timeout to calm the moment and won the next point on an illegal attack by the Huskers. Kentucky re-took the lead at 18-17 on a kill from Asia Thigpen and Kentucky was off and running to the finish line of the set from there. UK worked around a Nebraska timeout to finish the set on a 7-1 run and turn a 18-17 deficit into a 25-20 second-set win and the Wildcats took a two sets to none lead in the match in Nashville.

Set 3

Nebraska took its first set in the third with a 25-19 frame. The frame was played all within a two-point window up until the media timeout when the Huskers rolled off four points in a row to take a 15-12 lead with its three-point edge being the largest of the frame to that point. UK would cut back into the set with a late sideout to get to 20-17, but Nebraska held off strong down the stretch to get on the board with a 25-19 third-set win.

Set 4

Nebraska took the early lead in set four as Kentucky called timeout trailing 11-6 and a set-high five-point deficit. The Huskers stayed ahead of the Wildcats by multiple points for a majority of the set until Brooklyn DeLeye and Eva Hudson ignited a second-set run by the Wildcats, who after two Nebraska timeouts pulled even at 19-19 for the first time since it was 2-2. The teams traded sideouts at 19-19 to get to 23-23 before Nebraska had a kill to get match point and an extended-rally termination to end the set and send the match to a fifth set at 25-23.

Set 5

Nebraska took a 6-2 lead thanks to a block by Harper Murray on the right side and Kentucky quickly took a timeout as the arena rose to its feet. Kentucky then responded by winning the next three-straight points to make it 6-5 Nebraska and the Huskers called their first timeout with their lead trimmed to just one point. Nebraska took an 11-7 lead on two attack errors by the Wildcats and UK expended its final timeout, trailing by four. Kentucky dropped the final set, 15-8.

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