Tuozzo’s 21 Digs Hand No. 3 Kentucky Top-10 Win Over SMU
LEXINGTON, Ky. – No. 3 Kentucky guided by Molly Tuozzo’s 21 digs overpowered No. 10 SMU in a top-10 showdown at Historic Memorial Coliseum on Saturday afternoon in front of over 3,000 fans in its home opener as UK knocked out the Mustangs 3-1 (26-28, 25-22, 25-18, 25-23).
Brooklyn DeLeye and Eva Hudson led the charge offensively for the Wildcats, who won their first match this season when losing a set. DeLeye had 22 kills on 44 swings, as she hit .318 with Hudson hitting in the .300’s as well, knocking the ball at a .310 pace with 16 kills on her 42 swings. UK as a team hit .336 for the match led by Kassie O’Brien, who dished the ball out for 49 assists and tagged in four kills, as well.
Saturday marked SMU’s first loss of the season, as it falls to 6-1. UK is now 4-2.
The Kentucky defense held SMU to .216 for the match offensively as the Mustangs leading player was Jadyn Livings, who had 26 kills on 53 attempts with nine digs, one shy of a double-double. Kentucky had five blocks in the match with Kassie O’Brien recording a team-high four of them, Lizzie Carr logging three stuffs and Brooke Bultema registering two.
Eva Hudson had 12 digs alongside her 16 kills for her first double-double as a Kentucky Wildcat as she also threw in an ace, an assist and only had three hitting errors on her 42 swings for the day.
The 2025 Bluegrass Battle wraps up Sunday with No. 10 SMU playing No. 14 Purdue at 11 a.m. ET and No. 3 Kentucky playing Houston at 2 p.m. ET. The UK vs. Houston match will be shown live on SEC Network+ and the ESPN app.
Set 1
Kentucky dropped the opening set despite having three set points to its name at 24-23, 25-24 and 26-25, but SMU sided out in all three of them and then closed the set on a 3-0 service run with an ace to cap off the frame and take the opener, 28-25. Kentucky never trailed in the set until SMU took its first set point and closed out the win. UK led by as many as three points, leading the Mustangs at 13-10, 19-16 and 23-20 but SMU was able to erase the deficit in all three instances to score major points in the red zone of the match. UK hit just .256 for the set with Eva Hudson’s five kills leading the way and four digs to her name. SMU hit .220 with 16 kills on 41 swings and seven errors.
Set 2
Kentucky trailed 5-1 in the opening stages of the second set, but steadied the boat and tied up the Mustangs at 8-8 on an in-system kill from Brooklyn DeLeye, her fourth of the match to that point. SMU called timeout trailing by two at 12-10, its first multi-point deficit of the set and then whistled for time again at 17-13 with the Wildcats ahead by four points, their largest lead of the set. SMU then went on a 4-0 run with two aces to square the set before Brooklyn DeLeye took over with kills in three of then next four points as UK jumped out 23-20 over SMU. Kentucky garnered set point at 24-20 and on its second try, closed out the set with a 25-22 second-set win to even the match at one set all inside HMC. UK hit .415 for the set with 20 kills and only three errors as setter Kassie O’Brien had 17 second-set assists, a new career high for her in a single set.
Set 3
Kentucky held SMU to .043 hitting in the third set and led wire-to-wire to claim a 25-18 frame and take a two sets to one lead in the match. The Wildcats jumped out to a 4-0 lead and SMU took an early timeout in the frame down those four points. SMU then had to call timeout in the third set with Kentucky leading 16-10 following a kill from Asia Thigpen on the right side with a hard swing down the line. UK ballooned its lead to 21-14 on Eva Hudson’s 10th kill of the match, and the Wildcats raced to the finish line as a block from Kassie O’Brien and Brooke Bultema closed out the set as SMU had it rejected back onto their side of the court to close out the frame. Kentucky was hitting .356 for the match to that point while holding the Mustangs to .212 with both teams registering four team blocks to that point.
Set 3
Kentucky again led from start to finish in the fourth set, with its lead growing to as many as six points at 10-4, forcing the Mustangs to burn an early timeout after an ace by Eva Hudson. In the midway point of the set, Kentucky buoyed its six-point lead through the 16-10 mark in the set before a 3-0 SMU run pushed UK into its first timeout. The Mustangs closed the mark to one point at 24-23 after two unsuccessful set points by the Wildcats, but on match point No. 3, it was an Eva Hudson kill on the right pin, her 16th of the match, that ended the meeting and gave UK its fourth victory of the year.
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