Morgan Gaerte’s 19 Kills Push No. 7 Kentucky Past Mizzou in Sweep

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Morgan Gaerte had 19 kills on 40 swings Friday night as the No. 7 Kentucky Volleyball team swept Missouri 3-0 (25-16, 29-27, 25-17) in three sets inside Historic Memorial Coliseum.

The Wildcats came out hitting .400 in the first set with 17 kills on 35 swings as a team with Kentucky holding Mizzou to .188 for the set and only allowing the Tigers to side out at a 58 percent clip. In the second set, Kentucky fought off two set points at 24-22 and 24-23 to run off three in a row and finally put the cap on the set with an ace off the hand of Brooklyn DeLeye at 28-27 to close out a 2-0 lead. In the third set, Kentucky ran away and hid, leading things 18-8 at one point, hutting .333 for the set with Mizzou hitting .000 in the third.

The win for Kentucky snaps a two-match losing streak, the first two-match SEC losing streak in over 10 years for Kentucky Volleyball. The Wildcats are now 16-5 on the season and hold an 8-3 Southeastern Conference sitting in a logjam for third place in the league right now on that record.

Kentucky will now use the rest of the weekend to rest up for its bye weekend and the final four matches of the regular season, beginning next Friday, November 6 against the Alabama Crimson Tide at 7 p.m. ET on SEC Network inside Historic Memorial Coliseum. Senior Day will be Sunday, Nov. 8 at 7 p.m. ET against Mississippi State to round out the home regular season slate.

Gaerte led all scorers in the match with 19 kills and Brooklyn DeLeye wasn’t far behind with 16 kills on 32 swings to hit .344 for the night and throw in three aces and eight digs. Kassie O’Brien ran the UK offense with 43 assists on 54 Kentucky kills to a .327 percentage and seven digs alongside a pair of blocks. The UK floor defense was anchored by Molly Tuozzo with 14 digs and six assists in the match.

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