Hudson POY, O’Brien FOY, Skinner COY in SEC Volleyball Awards
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The Southeastern Conference announced its annual volleyball regular season awards presented by Allstate on Wednesday with Kentucky earning four major awards including Eva Hudson being named SEC Player of the Year and SEC Newcomer of the Year and four players getting voted to the all-conference team. Kassie O’Brien won SEC Freshman of the Year honors and Craig Skinner won his seventh SEC Coach of the Year title, marking the third-straight year being COY.
Hudson becomes the seventh-different player to win SEC Player of the Year in program history joining Brooklyn DeLeye (2024), Emma Grome (2022), Alli Stumler (2021), Madison Lilley (2020), Leah Edmond (2018, 19) and Sarah Rumley (2008). Hudson is Kentucky’s first-ever winner of the Newcomer of the Year award, which was established in 2023 by the league office.
O’Brien is also the seventh different player in UK history to be SEC Freshman of the Year, with the six prior winners of the award all the exact same people who were the six prior SEC Player of the Year award winners in Kentucky Volleyball history.
UK put three players on the All-SEC First Team as O’Brien and Hudson were joined by Brooklyn DeLeye, the 2024 SEC Player of the Year. Kentucky libero Molly Tuozzo was voted to the All-SEC second team Wednesday afternoon, her second-straight year being named All-SEC. O’Brien was also voted to the eight-member SEC All-Freshman Team.
Only the 15 SEC match stats are considered for SEC awards. All awards are voted on by the 16 head coaches in the SEC and they can not vote for members of their own teams for any award.
Kentucky, who is the No. 1 overall seed in the 2025 SEC Volleyball Tournament, opens play in Savannah on Sunday at Noon ET on SEC Network against (8) Auburn, (9) Oklahoma or (16) Arkansas inside Enmarket Arena in the quarterfinal round. Kevin Barnett, Missy Whittemore and Leah Edmond will have the call for SECN.
Eva Hudson
SEC Player of the Year, SEC Newcomer of the Year, First Team All-SEC
- 76 kills per set
- 26 digs per set
- 10+ kills in all 15 SEC matches
Kassie O’Brien
SEC Freshman of the Year, First Team All-SEC, SEC All-Freshman Team
- Led the SEC with 11.80 assists per set
- Pushed the Wildcats to a .296 in-conference hitting efficiency percentage
- 26 digs per set
Brooklyn DeLeye
First Team All-SEC
- 65 kills per set
- 26 digs per set
- 10+ kills in every SEC match, including 22 at Missouri on Nov. 6
Molly Tuozzo
Second Team All-SEC
- 81 digs per set
- 10+ digs in 13 of the 15 SEC matches
- Primary passer
Craig Skinner
SEC Coach of the Year
- Seventh time winning the award
- Third-straight SEC Coach of the Year honor
- Second undefeated SEC season in his tenure (2018)
SEC Awards Presented by Allstate
SEC Player of the Year, Eva Hudson (Kentucky)
SEC Newcomer of the Year, Eva Hudson (Kentucky)
SEC Freshman of the Year, Kassie O’Brien (Kentucky)
SEC Coach of the Year, Craig Skinner (Kentucky)
SEC Libero of the Year, Maya Sands (Mizzou)
SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year, Jackie Moore (Vanderbilt)
For the latest on UK Volleyball, follow the Wildcats on Twitter and Instagram at @KentuckyVB.
