DeLeye’s 25 Kills Thwart Oklahoma in Fifth as No. 13 Kentucky Wins
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Sophomore outside hitter Brooklyn DeLeye had 25 kills Wednesday night as No. 13 Kentucky won its first five-set match of the season, 3-2, (25-21, 23-25, 23-25, 25-18. 15-13) over the Oklahoma Sooners in Historic Memorial Coliseum.
The Wildcats managed to come back from two sets to one down for the first time this season to win a match as UK never let Oklahoma take a lead in the fifth with DeLeye notching an unbelievable six fifth-set kills on only 12 swings to help the Wildcats close out the match.
Emma Grome paced the UK offense to a .216 clip, including .333 in the fifth set as the senior All-American setter notched 41 assists on 58 of Kentucky’s kills on the night while also throwing in eight digs, an ace and four stuff blocks.
It was Kentucky’s floor defense that carried the day as Molly Tuozzo and Eleanor Beavin combined for 24 digs and nine assists with Tuozzo setting a new career high with 20 digs and Beavin throwing in two assists alongside a quartet of digs in the contest. DeLeye also tallied 10 digs in Wednesday night’s match as she charted her fifth double-double of the season to couple her 25 kills.
Kentucky is now 8-6 overall on the season and sits 2-1 in Southeastern Conference play having won its last two matches. Oklahoma is 7-4 after Wednesday night’s match and sits 1-2 in the SEC. The Wildcats will return to the court Sunday afternoon for a 1 p.m. ET match with Missouri live on SEC Network. Anne Marie Anderson and Leah Edmond will have the call for SEC Network from Historic Memorial Coliseum in Lexington.
Set One
Set one of the match was one of the tightest sets that Kentucky played all season. No team garnered more than a three-point lead in the match until Kentucky used an Emma Grome 6-0 service run to give the Wildcats a 23-20 advantage late in the set bookended by Jordyn Dailey kills out of the middle. UK then got a freeball on set point at 24-21 and the Wildcats’ Megan Wilson ended the set with her second termination of the night from the right pin to give Kentucky the 1-0 lead in the match with a 25-21 opening set victory. Kentucky hit .229 for the set and got 15 kills with Brooklyn DeLeye leading the way with five kills, joined by Dailey, who also had five.
Set Two
The second set was very similar to the first, with the honors essentially even through the opening and middle parts of the set before one team carried the weight in the back half for a set win. Kentucky jumped out to a four-point advantage at 10-6, but it was the Sooners who chipped away at the lead and took advantage of seven UK service errors to get back even at 14-14 before taking a two-point, set-high lead at 19-17 that pushed the Wildcats into their first timeout of the frame down a pair. UK got the set square again on a block by Brooke Bultema, only UK’s second of the night, but a timely one as things were knotted at 21-21 for the first time since it was 17-17. After UK squared things, the Sooners sided out and got an additional point on a missed pass by UK and down 23-21, Kentucky called its final timeout. OU took the set on its first set point off a UK error, 25-23.
Set Three
Set three was much different than the first two, with large momentum swings from start to finish. Kentucky jumped out to a 7-2 lead out of the gates that pushed the Sooners into a timeout. Out of that timeout, the Sooners responded by winning eight of the next nine points that resulted in a Kentucky timeout as UK was suddenly trailing 10-8. Oklahoma never relinquished the lead, growing it to three at 19-16 with Kentucky closing the gap to one at 24-23, but on set point, Kentucky wasn’t able to take advantage of an in-system swing and Oklahoma won on a kill by Alexis Shelton to win the set, 25-23 as the Sooners took a 2-1 lead in the match with back-to-back set wins.
Set Four
Kentucky hit .219 in the fourth set and got three-straight aces to close out the set from sophomore libero Molly Tuozzo to win 25-18 and send the match to a fifth set, the third five-set match for UK this season. Kentucky jumped out to an early 11-8 lead as OU bolstered itself into an early timeout in which they closed the gap to one at 9-8 but Kentucky never let the Sooners have the lead in the frame as the Wildcats closed the set on a 5-0 scoring run after things were close at 17-16, but the Wildcats ended strong to push the match to a fifth.
Set Five
The hot serving by Kentucky continued into the opening points of the fifth set as Kentucky jetted out to a 7-3 lead thanks to an ace from Megan Wilson, her second of the match, as Oklahoma elected to call an early halt to play trailing by four. Kentucky won a critical late challenge to make it a three-point lead at 9-6, but OU then won the next three points after the challenge to square the fifth set for the first time since it was 1-1 at the start of the fifth. A Brooklyn DeLeye extended-rally kill re-grew Kentucky’s lead to two again at 11-9 and once again in tune with the match, OU responded by winning the next two points to level the set at 11-11. DeLeye crossed the 20-kill threshold with a thunderous termination from the left side as Kentucky took a 13-11 lead as its two-point edge was reinstated and OU called its final timeout down a pair. Out of that, yet again, it was an OU response with back-to-back kills and the Wildcats found themselves even at 13-13 and UK called its final timeout of the match. Brooklyn DeLeye then ended the match on a back-row attack that pushed Kentucky over the finish line, 15-13 in the fifth.
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