DeLeye Crushes 17 Kills, No. 2 Stanford Beats No. 11 Kentucky 3-1
PALO ALTO, Calif. – In its non-conference finale Saturday night, the No. 11 Kentucky Volleyball team fell to No. 2 Stanford, 3-1 (25-19, 25-19, 28-30, 25-20) at Maples Pavilion in Palo Alto, California, despite 17 kills from sophomore outside hitter Brooklyn DeLeye and 40 assists from senior setter Emma Grome.
Stanford took the opening two sets rather easily Saturday night before a back-and-fourth third set went the Wildcats way in 30-28 style with Kentucky converting on its fourth match point at 29-28, even fending off a Stanford match point at 26-25 before rallying to win the set and force a fourth frame.
In the fourth, Stanford raced out to a quick 10-3 lead but Kentucky fought back to square the set at 16 all and Brooklyn DeLeye’s second ace of the match put the Wildcats on top 17-16. After Stanford called time at 17-16, the Cardinal won eight of the last 11 points of the match to close out the win.
Kentucky hit .181 for the match as Stanford clubbed the ball at a .263 rate. DeLeye led all Wildcats with 17 kills, the only UK player to reach double-figures scoring Saturday night. Emma Grome’s 13 digs and 40 assists both led Kentucky as the senior recorded her third double-double of the season.
With the loss, Kentucky finishes non-conference play 6-5. Stanford improves to 10-1 on the year with the win.
Saturday night marked the end of conference play for the Wildcats as Kentucky will travel to Auburn, Alabama next weekend to open Southeastern Conference play on The Plains against the nationally-ranked Tigers. Friday’s match begins at 9 p.m. ET and will be broadcasted live on the SEC Network and the ESPN app.
Set One
The opening part of the first set was tightly contested as both teams littered the stat sheet with errors but then the offensive tempo began to gain form for the Wildcats who squared things at 9-9 on a setter dump from Emma Grome and a kill by Megan Wilson. After UK tied things up, Stanford went on a 4-0 scoring run to take a 13-9 lead and the Wildcats were pushed into calling their first timeout hitting just .067 in the set to that point. Stanford continued to gather momentum offensively as a 3-0 run pushed the Cardinal lead to a set-high six points at 18-12 and Kentucky called its final timeout. Kentucky crept as close as three late in the set as an Erin Lamb kill off the block pulled the Wildcats to 22-19, but Stanford then went on a 3-0 run out of their only timeout used of the set to win the set, 25-19. Stanford hit .333 for the set with 14 kills and three errors. The Wildcats hit .103 with 10 kills and six errors as Brooke Bultema’s three kills led the way for Kentucky’s offense.
Set Two
Stanford jetted out to a 9-3 lead in the second set that resulted in the Wildcats calling their first timeout. After the lead for the Cardinal had grew to seven, a Megan Wilson back-row kill followed by a kill from junior outside Haley Melby cut the lead to five at 15-10 and Stanford called its first timeout with UK within five points for the first time since it was 8-3 Stanford earlier in the frame. Kentucky closed the gap to 17-14 and that was succeeded by back-to-back Stanford points including a service ace that made things 19-14 and UK called its second timeout of the frame. Stanford reached set point at 24-18 and a Kentucky service error, its 10th of the night to that point, ended the set with Stanford taking a two sets to love lead.
Set Three
Kentucky took a 15-12 lead into the media timeout on an extended-rally kill from sophomore outside hitter Brooklyn DeLeye, as Craig Skinner used the momentum of a challenge win to catapult the Wildcats offense to a 4-0 scoring run leading into the halt of play with the three-point lead serving as UK’s largest lead of the night in any set to that point. Stanford had three-straight points swing its way out of the media break to square the set at 15 all and Kentucky called its first timeout of the frame to try and stop any Cardinal momentum. A kill by Erin Lamb off an extended rally saved by Molly Tuozzo’s 10th dig of the match pushed Kentucky’s lead back to a three-point advantage at 19-16 and Stanford burned its final timeout with UK six points away from the set. After Stanford took a 23-22 lead, Kentucky came out of a timeout and got a Brooklyn DeLeye kill and a block by Emma Grome and Brooke Bultema to re-take the lead, 24-23 and gain a set point. That forced the Cardinal into a timeout as it squared the set at 24-24 out of the timeout. Kentucky picked up set point on an Ava Sarafa ace, her second of the match, and a Jordyn Dailey stuff ended the set at 30-28 as Kentucky took the third and etched itself on the scoresheet to pull to within two sets to one in the overall match.
Set Four
The fourth set started similar to the second set as Stanford raced out to a 10-3 lead before Kentucky was forced into a timeout. Kentucky then began to slowly eat into the Cardinal lead and cut it to 14-11 as the Cardinal called its first timeout following Brooklyn DeLeye’s 14th kill of the match. DeLeye’s serving then took center stage as she helped Kentucky get a free ball out of a terrific serve to tie the set at 16 all and that was followed by an ace, her second of the match to that point, as Kentucky took its first lead of the set at 17-16 and Stanford called its final timeout of the set. Stanford won the four points immediately out of the timeout to take a two-point lead at 19-17 and Kentucky called its final timeout. The run extended to a 6-1 run as Stanford took a 22-18 lead and closed out the match with a 25-20 final set victory.
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