Lizzie Carr’s 200th-Career Block Sails No. 4 Kentucky Past LSU
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Fifth year middle blocker Lizzie Carr stuffed her 200th-career block Friday night in the middle of the second set, on a night where she had a season-high eight blocks, helping No. 4 Kentucky sweep past LSU 3-0 (25-20, 25-19, 25-19) in three sets in Historic Memorial Coliseum.
Kentucky hit .277 for the night, but it was the defense that carried the day as UK held LSU to .112 for the match hitting and .044 in the third set alone and Kentucky outdug the Tigers, 54-42. The Wildcats got 10-plus kills from two players as Brooklyn DeLeye led the way on 16 kills and Morgan Gaerte having 15 kills on 26 swings to hit .500 for the match.
The crowd inside Historic Memorial Coliseum was 5,076, the ninth-largest in program history and third largest of the 2026 season. The 2026 season now is the first in program history with three 5,000-plus crowds in one regular season in program history.
Kassie O’Brien had 34 assists Friday with a pair of kills and one dig shy of a double-double with nine digs. Molly Tuozzo saved 12 balls in the match and threw in four assists as she continues to prove herself as one of the best liberos in the nation.
With Friday night’s win, Kentucky is now 12-3 on the year and moves to 4-1 in the Southeastern Conference. LSU falls back to .500 on the regular season and is 7-7 with a 2-3 record in the SEC.
Kentucky will close out its homestand Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. ET as it plays Ole Miss in HMC. The match will be shown live on SEC Network+ and the ESPN app.
Set One
Kentucky won the first set 25-20 withstanding a late LSU charge in the final parts of the set as the Wildcats led by as many as nine at 22-13 at one point before a 5-1 run Tiger run pulled LSU to within three points at 23-20, the closest LSU had been since it was 12-9 midway through the frame. Kentucky led 7-3 early to give a four-point lead UK’s way and push the Tigers into an early deficit. At the media timeout, UK led 17-11 thanks to an incredible dig sent over by Brooklyn DeLeye that resulted in a UK point and a few points later, LSU called its first timeout. The Wildcats then went on a 6-0 run, its largest of the set, to make things decidedly in UK’s favor and a centerline violation was the final point of the set called on LSU to end things 25-20. UK hit .375 for the first set with six kills from Morgan Gaerte and five from Brooklyn DeLeye. LSU hit .097 with no player notching more than two kills for the Tigers in the opener. Kassie O’Brien had 12 assists on 17 of UK’s kills and Kennedy Washington’s .667 attack percentage led the set.
Set Two
Molly Tuozzo took control of the second set for Kentucky as she had six digs in the frame including three in the same point, incredibly, to hand Kentucky a 2-0 lead at 25-19. Morgan Gaerte led Kentucky to a .317 hitting percentage on the set with seven kills including the final one to seal the frame. Kentucky and LSU traded early points with a 3-0 run for UK handing the Wildcats an 8-7 lead for UK’s first advantage of the set. The Wildcats first multi-point lead came at 12-10 and the Wildcats reached the media timeout ahead 15-13. Lizzie Carr recorded her 200th-career block in a solo stuff to hand the Wildcats a 17-14 lead. After UK ran off four in a row thanks to strong service from Kassie O’Brien, LSU called timeout trailing 20-15 and a 4-1 run get Kentucky to set point leading by seven. O’Brien had 27 assists through two sets and both Morgan Gaerte and Brookyln DeLeye were in double-figures scoring with 10-plus each at 13 for Gaerte and 11 for DeLeye.
Set Three
LSU jetted out to a quick 9-4 lead and forced Kentucky into an early timeout with the Wildcats trailing by a set-high five points, UK’s largest deficit of the match. The five-point lead was quickly dissipated by DeLeye and Gaerte’s in-system kills from the pins as the Wildcats got things square by the time the media timeout was reached at 14-14. Kentucky used a nice assist from Kassie O’Brien to Kennedy Washington on the slide to get its first substantial lead of the set at 17-15 and the next point went UK’s way to push the Tigers into a timeout. LSU burned its second timeout after a solo stuff from Lizzie Carr which put Kentucky up by a set-high five points at 22-17. Carr and Gaerte ended the match with a block to hand the Wildcats a 25-19 third-set win.
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