No. 7 Kentucky Sweeps Lipscomb in Season Opener Saturday

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The two-headed monster of Eva Hudson and Brooklyn DeLeye helped push the Kentucky Volleyball team, ranked No. 7 in the nation, past Lipscomb on Saturday afternoon 3-0 (25-12, 25-20, 25-23) as the Wildcats won their season opener for the first time since 2021, knocking off the Bisons on their home floor.

DeLeye led all players in the match with 18 kills on 35 swings with no errors through two sets and a .429 hitting percentage and Eva Hudson in her first match as a Wildcat hit .267 with 10 kills on 30 swings with seven digs and a block, as well. Lizzie Carr had six kills and one error Saturday afternoon as the Wildcats put three players over five kills in the match for the afternoon.

Defensively, Kennedy Washington and Asia Thigpen both had four blocks with Carr adding in three more to boot as the Wildcats ended up with eight total blocks as a team, including three in the third set alone. Molly Tuozzo, who is in her second season as the Wildcats libero, had 10 digs in the match to lead all UK players as the junior helped the Wildcats sideout at a 72 percent clip for the afternoon.

Ava Sarafa was terrific for Kentucky on Saturday afternoon, logging a new career-high 33 assists in the match as she earned her first-career start at the setting position and threw in seven digs and a block for the match in her first full-time starting role for UK. Sarafa helped run the Kentucky offense to the tune of a .275 hitting percentage for the match and 41 kills to just 11 errors.

The attention of the volleyball world now shifts to downtown Nashville, Tennessee where on Sunday, Kentucky and No. 1 Nebraska will play the first-ever NCAA Volleyball match televised on ABC inside Bridgestone Arena at Noon ET. Over 10,000 tickets have been sold to the Sprouts Farmers Market Broadway Block Party as Courtney Lyle, Holly McPeak, Katie George and Madison Fitzpatrick will have the call from Music City.

Set 1

Thanks to the potent serving of Molly Tuozzo, the Wildcats raced out to a 9-0 lead in the opening set with a pair of aces for the native of The Woodlands, Texas and a pair of kills from returning All-American, Brooklyn DeLeye as the Bisons burned both of their timeouts during the service run from the Wildcats. Lipscomb got its bearings and clawed back into the set, closing to within seven points at 12-5 but it was all Kentucky down the stretch of the set as the Wildcats only had three hitting errors in the entire set to make the opener swing their way, 25-12. UK hit .300 in the set and Ava Sarafa had 13 assists as Brooklyn DeLeye went for six kills on 12 swings without an error and a block to add to it. Lipscomb hit .054 with eight kills and six errors off the Kentucky block and no service aces to Kentucky’s three free points in the set.

Set 2

Kentucky forced the Bisons into an early timeout leading 9-4 after Brooklyn DeLeye etched into double-figures scoring on her 10th kill of the match, still without an error. Eva Hudson bailed Kentucky out of back-to-back points to push the lead to a then-set high seven points at 12-5. Lipscomb kept pace with UK for a majority of the frame until the Wildcats jumped out on a 21-16 lead on a block by Lizzie Carr, her second of the match to that point. LU closed the gap late in the set to 22-19, which was as close as they had been all set since it was 6-3 but UK closed the set on a 3-1 run to end the set and push the Kentucky lead to 2-0. In the second set, UK hit .342 with 16 kills to just three errors and Ava Sarafa upped her total in the match to 23 assists. DeLeye completed the opening two sets with 13 kills to one error and Eva Hudson got seven kills on the outside with 22 swings and four digs.

Set 3

The start of the third set was nip and tuck before Kassie O’Brien ran off three aces in a row from the service line to take what an even set and tilt it in the Wildcats direction at 9-5 and force the Bisons into an early timeout in the frame. A double block by Kennedy Washington and Asia Thigpen on the right pin followed up by a back-row kill from senior Eva Hudson ballooned the Kentucky lead in the third to 15-9 and the Bisons called their final timeout of the set down half a dozen points. The lead grew to seven points following Brooklyn DeLeye’s second ace of the day off the right back passer’s platform at 18-11 and the Wildcats were able to see things out from there to collect the third set and take the match, three sets to none in a season-opening sweep.

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