Volleyball
Eva Hudson and Kassie O’Brien Haul in SEC Weekly Awards Monday

Eva Hudson and Kassie O’Brien Haul in SEC Weekly Awards Monday

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Following an undefeated weekend as No. 2 Kentucky beat Vanderbilt and No. 4 Texas, the Wildcats had two players honored Monday by the Southeastern Conference with player of the week honors. Eva Hudson was crowned the SEC’s Offensive Player of the Week and Kassie O’Brien was the league’s setter of the week.

Senior outside hitter Eva Hudson hit .478 on the week with two double-figure kill matches as she had 14 kills in a sweep of Vanderbilt and her fifth 20+ kill match of the season Sunday afternoon in a sweep of No. 2 Texas in Austin. Hudson averaged 5.67 kills per set on the week while having double-doubles in both matches as she had 11 digs to compliment her 14 kills vs. VU and 11 digs as well at Texas. Hudson led Kentucky both in kills per set and digs per set on the week with 5.67 kills per set and 3.67 digs per set in the two-match week for UK. Her .520 hitting percentage Friday night vs. Vandy was a season high. Her double-doubles were the sixth and seventh in 2025. The native of Ft. Wayne, Indiana is now averaging 4.62 kills per set in SEC play this season and has double-figure kills in every league match of the season thus far.

Freshman setter Kassie O’Brien averaged 13.33 assists per set this week in three-set sweeps of Vanderbilt and No. 2 Texas. O’Brien dished out 37 assists Friday as Kentucky hit .354 as a team in the match and added in an SEC-high three kills. On Sunday afternoon against Texas, O’Brien steered Kentucky to a .353 hitting percentage on 43 assists with 11 digs for her fifth double-double of the season and third in the last four matches for the Wildcats as the offensive captain. O’Brien had six blocks Friday night vs. Vanderbilt, a new SEC career high for the freshman and one off her career high set back in September. She now has recorded 40-plus assists in seven of the last eight matches.

Kentucky plays next at Missouri on Thursday night at 7 p.m. ET live on SEC Network+ and the ESPN app. UK is next at home Sunday against No. 19 Tennessee at 5 p.m. ET for an ESPN BLUEout match, where fans are encouraged to wear BLUE.

SEC Weekly Awards – Week 10

Offensive Eva Hudson, Kentucky
Defensive Ifenna Cos-Okpalla, Texas A&M
Setter Kassie O’Brien, Kentucky
Freshman Lindsey Mangelson, Mississippi State

For the latest on UK Volleyball, follow the Wildcats on Twitter and Instagram at @KentuckyVB.

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