Cats Show All-Around Game in Win Over Vanderbilt

The Kentucky volleyball team showed off its vast repertoire in Friday’s sweep of Vanderbilt. The defense carried the Cats early and the offense closed the door late.

The UK defense was solid all night, but especially in the first set. The Cats had 22 digs in the opening frame, including eight from libero Molly Tuozzo.

UK head coach Craig Skinner liked the way his team played defense throughout Friday’s win.

“Defensively, just really good tonight,” Skinner said. “Smothering most of the night. If we weren’t touching their swings with our block, our defense was picking up in the back row, so very pleased with that.”

Tuozzo trusted the scouting report on Vanderbilt and believes that contributed to her success.

“I think just trusting the scout,” Tuozzo said. “I think they hit a lot of shots to me so that made it kind of easy, but I think just trusting what I scouted for them.”

The UK offense picked up the pace as the match went on. After hitting .237 in the first set, the Cats hit .407 in set two and .441 in the final set. Junior Brooklyn DeLeye said that the offense was just trying to support the Cats’ defensive effort.

“It’s pretty easy when you have girls like Molly Tuozzo digging balls, so we just wanted to show our defense that they weren’t doing it for nothing,” DeLeye said. “We needed to put balls away since they were doing their jobs.”

Skinner liked how the offense continued to get better in each set.

“Our offense kept getting better as the match went on,” Skinner said. “To hit .350 and hold an SEC opponent to .108 was very pleasing.”

The Cats are now set for a Sunday showdown with Texas for the SEC lead. Skinner knows that it will be a tough match.

“I think we need to expect Texas’ best,” Skinner said. “Great environment down there. We have to go all in. You’ve got to go for it. I know our players are looking forward to the challenge and it will be back and forth all night. We’ve really enjoyed the opportunity to play in those matches.”

Tuozzo agrees with her head coach.

“I think it’s going to be an emotional game,” she said. “It’s going to be a really hard game and we’re good at winning the ugly, so I think there’s going to be a lot of long rallies in that match. We’ve been preparing this entire SEC run, so we’re excited.”

Nelson, Tealer Return to Lexington

Vanderbilt head coach Anders Nelson was the associate head coach at Kentucky before starting the program at Vanderbilt. Azhani Tealer was an All-American for the Cats. Both Nelson and Tealer were a part of UK’s 2020 national championship team.

On Friday, they returned to Lexington with their new program. Skinner takes great pride in seeing his former players and coaches doing well.

“Proud every time we’ve played against a team that has someone that’s spent time in this program,” Skinner said. “It says a lot about the growth of the game and what we’ve been able to do to help the sport.”

He spoke specifically about what Nelson and Tealer mean to the UK program.

“The contributions that specifically Anders and Z made to this program are immeasurable,” Skinner said. “We owe them a lot and hopefully they take a piece of this program with them wherever they go.”