Can You Dig It? Kentucky Defense Shines Against Wofford

The Kentucky volleyball team has found many ways to win matches this season. Many times, the Cats have leaned on their offense, led by All-American outside hitters Eva Hudson and Brooklyn DeLeye. Other times, it has been the Big Blue block that has carried the Cats.

On Thursday night, as the Cats swept Wofford in the first round of the 2025 NCAA Volleyball Tournament, it was the UK defense again, but this time, it was in the form of digs.

Kentucky set a rally era scoring record for digs in a three-set match with 66. UK had five players with at least eight digs. Junior libero Molly Tuozzo led the way with 19 digs and she credited the scouting report with helping the Cats break a record that had stood since 2014.

“I think it all comes down to preparation,” Tuozzo said. “I think we watched the hitters a lot beforehand, so we knew kind of their hard shots and what they like to do. So I think it just comes out of that.”

It started early, when the Cats recorded 26 digs in the first set, including nine by Tuozzo. Set two was almost as good, as UK notched another 22 digs.

DeLeye, who had a team-high 14 kills to go with 11 digs, credited the team’s hard work against Wofford.

“I think it was just props to Wofford because they had some strong hitters, and I think we had to respond,” DeLeye said. “I think everybody, from a defensive standpoint, had to step up. I think just like we didn’t know what was coming at us. The scouting report was good, but you can’t really prepare what a game’s actually going to be like. I think they were coming at us with full forces, and I think we just had to fight back even harder.”

Molly Berezowitz had 13 digs and setter Kassie O’Brien had 12 to go with her 40 assists. Hudson added eight digs for the Cats. Head coach Craig Skinner was pleased with his team’s defense throughout the match.

“With our offensive progression through that day, our defense was really good for the whole time,” Skinner said. “I know Tuozzo was feeling it out there. I think she had about 15 digs (it was actually nine) in the first set.”

On a night when it took the UK offense a bit to get going, the defense carried the Cats in record-breaking fashion.