Kentucky Picked to Win SEC, Four on Preseason All-SEC Team
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The Kentucky Volleyball team was picked by the 16 Southeastern Conference head coaches to win the league in the annual preseason poll, it was announced Tuesday afternoon. Additionally, the Wildcats received four spots on the All-SEC preseason team, the most of any team in the conference.
Kentucky received nine of the 16 first-place votes with Texas, who was picked second, gathering six first-place votes and Texas A&M receiving one. Kentucky received 218 points, beating out Texas by two points, who collected 216 points in the preseason poll, as the Wildcats were selected to win what would be their ninth-straight SEC championship. Texas A&M was picked third with Missouri (fourth) and Florida (fifth) rounding out the top five.
The All-SEC Preseason Team consists of the top 15 vote-getters in the SEC from the coaches, regardless of position and Kentucky had a league-high four on the team with Brooke Bultema, Brooklyn DeLeye, Eva Hudson and Molly Tuozzo all earning spots on the team. For DeLeye, she is coming off winning SEC Player of the Year in 2024 and will be looking to become the second player at Kentucky to win SEC Player of the Year twice in 2025, her junior year, as she would join Leah Edmond who did it in 2018 and 2019 in her final two years at UK.
Kentucky’s 2025 season kicks off Saturday, August 30 at Lipscomb in a 3 p.m. ET match in Nashville before playing in the first-ever Broadway Block Party at Bridgestone Arena against Nebraska at Noon ET on ABC. The home season for UK open Sept. 13 against SMU as part of a four-team event with UK, SMU, Houston and Purdue.
SEC Preseason Coaches’ Poll
- Kentucky (9)
- Texas (6)
- Texas A&M (1)
- Missouri
- Florida
- Tennessee
- Oklahoma
- LSU
- Georgia
- Ole Miss
- Arkansas
- Vanderbilt
- Auburn
- South Carolina
- Mississippi State
- Alabama
Preseason All-SEC Team
Jaela Auguste (MB, Florida)
Brooke Bultema (MB, Kentucky)
Brooklyn DeLeye (OH, Kentucky)
Eva Hudson (OH, Kentucky)
Molly Tuozzo (L, Kentucky)
Jurnee Robinson (OH, LSU)
Nia Washington (OH, LSU)
Mokihana Tufono (S, Ole Miss)
Maya Sands (L, Mizzou)
Alexis Shelton (OH, Oklahoma)
Caroline Kerr (S, Tennessee)
Emma Halter (L, Texas)
Torrey Stafford (OH, Texas)
Ifenna Cos-Okpalla (MB, Texas A&M)
Logan Lednicky (OPP, Texas A&M)
For the latest on UK Volleyball, follow the Wildcats on Twitter and Instagram at @KentuckyVB.
