Hudson’s 29 Kills Sends Kentucky into Sunday’s National Title Game
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Senior Eva Hudson had 29 kills Thursday night inside the T-Mobile Center including the match-clinching swing as the top-seeded Kentucky Volleyball team beat third-seeded Wisconsin 3-2 (12-25, 25-22, 21-25, 26-24, 15-13) to advance into Sunday afternoon’s NCAA National Championship match in Kansas City.
The Wildcats will play fellow Southeastern Conference school Texas A&M on Sunday in the 2025 NCAA National Championship match, after the Aggies beat Pittsburgh 3-0 on Thursday night in the first national semifinal. The match will be 3:30 p.m. ET on ABC on Sunday. Wisconsin, who was the Big Ten’s lone remaining team in the NCAA Tournament, finishes its season with a 28-5 overall record and a 17-3 mark in league play.
Hudson had 29 kills in the match, hitting .455 with only four errors on 55 swings. The American Volleyball Coaches’ Association National Player of the Year finalist had seven digs and a pair of blocks in the match as well. Hudson was joined by her teammate Brooklyn DeLeye, who had 15 kills in the match with 14 digs. Freshman Kassie O’Brien in her first-career NCAA Final Four match had 54 assists in the match alongside a pair of kills and nine digs. Brooklyn DeLeye’s five blocks led the match for UK, who registered eight as a team.
Wisconsin’s Mimi Colyer had 32 kills in the match to lead all players in the match.
Set 1
Wisconsin took the opening set, 25-12 as the Badgers hit .682 in the first with 15 kills on its 22 swings. The Wildcats were behind from the get-go as Kentucky dropped the opening three points and the Badgers quickly ran their lead to six at 8-2 as UK called its first timeout trailing by a half dozen. The UW lead then grew to nine at 15-6 as UK had to call its second timeout down by a set-high nine points at the time. Wisconsin continued to pile on, scoring on 12 of its first 12 swings and 15 of its 22 in the set to close things out, 25-12. It was the largest margin of defeat in a single set for UK since 2018 when UK lost 25-10 to Nebraska in the Minneapolis Regional semifinal.
Set 2
Kentucky closed the second set on a 6-1 run to even the match and made things 1-1 with a 25-22 second-set victory. The Wildcats never trailed by more than two points the entire set, leading 7-4 in the early stanza with a few stuffs from Lizzie Carr and Kassie O’Brien to get the momentum back on the Wildcats side. Wisconsin took its first timeout after the longest rally of the match made things 16-15 in favor of the Badgers and UK responded by squaring the set at 20-20, the first tie of the set since things were 14-14 before the media timeout. With things at 20 all, Kentucky then ran off six of the last seven points led by Eva Hudson’s four terminations in the red zone to hand Kentucky the set, 25-22. UK picked up set point at 24-20 and called a timeout after UW ran off two points in a row to make things 24-22, but a first-ball sideout by Hudson on the left pin ended the set and Kentucky squared the match. In the second set, UK hit .258 with the Badgers hitting .229. Through two sets, UK had Eva Hudson with nine kills leading the way and 17 assists from Kassie O’Brien and six digs from Molly Tuozzo.
Set 3
The Badgers took a 2-1 lead in the match with a 25-21 third-set victory. UW hit .386 in the set with 21 kills to only four errors with Kentucky clipping the ball at a .333 clip, but seeing the luck in the set run out on a 3-0 Badger run to close things out and hand the Badgers the 2-1 lead in the match. Kentucky fell down 12-7 in the opening parts of the set before slowly chipping away to pull within two points at 16-14 and close to within two for the first time since it was 9-7. Wisconsin called a timeout with UK on a 3-0 run having crept to 21-20 and only needing one point to square the set. Out of the Badger timeout, Kentucky had a hitting error on an extended rally and then UW won a challenge to make things 24-21 and closed out the set on a touch off the block to win the set, 25-21. Through three set, UK was hitting .326 as a team, but was struggling with the UW offense with Wisconsin hitting .396 as a team and Mimi Collier having 22 kills on 42 swings with a .395 hitting efficiency. Eva Hudson led Kentucky with 14 kills on 32 swings adding in seven digs and a pair of blocks.
Set 4
Kentucky managed to force the match to a decisive fifth set with a 26-24 fourth set victory as UK hit .270 and won it on its fourth set point to seal the deal and send the match to a fifth set. UK fell behind early in the set with UW leading by a pair of sideouts at 13-10 before a successful Kentucky challenge made things 13 all and things were back to square one. Kentucky took a 15-13 lead into the media timeout thanks to an ace by Molly Tuozzo that clipped the net and that would be UK’s largest lead of the set before a kill by Eva Hudson made things 19-16 and UW burned its first timeout. Wisconsin pulled back into things with the Badgers pulling to within 21-20 and making things a one-point set. Kentucky worked around a Badger timeout to arrive at set point with a 24-21 lead and saw all three set points evaporate as things were evened again at 24 all. UK got a thunderous kill from Brooklyn DeLeye for 25-24 and then a kill for the Wildcats on an extended rally ended the set as UK forced things to a fifth at 26-24.
Set 5
Kentucky jumped out to a 4-1 lead thanks to lethal swings in transition and the Wildcats were ahead 6-1 before the blink of an eye as Trinity Ward was serving bullets and pushed UK into the lead with a 5-0 service run after things were square at 1-1. Wisconsin then brought itself off the deck as the teams changed sides with UK leading 8-2 and the Badgers saw themselves get to within 8-5 after a quick 3-0 run. A crushing blow by Brooklyn DeLeye got UK back on track to a sideout and Kentucky got to 10 first at 10-6. Kentucky picked up match point at 14-11 and after a hitting error by UK and a transition kill by UW, the Wildcats called for their first timeout needing one sideout for the match. The serve by UW was sent to Hudson who passed to O’Brien off the net and Hudson buried her 29th kill of the match to the floor to seal the deal.
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