Tuozzo’s Career-High 25 Digs Sends (1) Kentucky to SEC Title Match
SAVANNAH, Ga. – Behind a new career-high 25 digs from junior libero Molly Tuozzo, the top-seeded Kentucky Volleyball team beat (4) Tennessee 3-1 (20-25, 25-22, 25-15, 25-23) in four sets Monday night at the 2025 Allstate SEC Volleyball Tournament inside Enmarket Arena.
With the win, Kentucky advances to the championship match against (2) Texas A&M or (3) Texas on Tuesday at 7 p.m. ET live on SEC Network with Eric Frede, Emily Ehman and Michella Chester on the call from Savannah.
In a similar script to the regular season meeting in Historic Memorial Coliseum, the Lady Vols jumped out to a one set to none lead over the Wildcats before UK then won the next three successive sets to make things 3-1 in favor of UK.
Brooklyn DeLeye had 22 kills on 46 swings Monday night as she hit .370 for the match and her cohort on the pin, Eva Hudson, hit .220 with 18 kills on 59 swings as the Wildcats hit .253 as a team. Kassie O’Brien had 46 assists in the match with Molly Tuozzo logging a career-high tying eight assists for UK to go alongside her new career-high 25 digs in the match as Kentucky held Tennessee to .208 hitting for the match and under .250 for the final two set, including a .022 hitting set in the third.
Lizzie Carr had nine kills in the match as she hit .364 on the night with an assist, three digs and a team-leading five blocks.
Set 1
As was the case in the regular-season meeting in Lexington, the Lady Vols took the opening set from the Wildcats, closing the frame on a 7-2 run after the opening set had 13 ties and eight lead changes throughout. Kentucky took a multi-point lead for the first time at 11-9 and that was UK’s largest lead before the set got to 18 all. At 18-18, Tennessee went on a 6-0 run that encompassed two timeouts by the Wildcats before a Brooklyn DeLeye kill closed the run at 6-0 with UK getting to 24-19. Tennessee eventually closed out the set on its third set point out of a timeout to win the opener, 25-20. UK hit a miniscule .140 in the set, one of its lowest offensive outputs of the season as Tennessee hit .279 with the Lady Vols notching 16 kills to four assists and Kentucky having 14 kills and seven errors with three Tennessee blocks thrown in.
Set 2
Kentucky tied the match with a 25-22 second set win by playing much cleaner volleyball and outhitting the Lady Vols in the set .351 to .317. UK forced Tennessee into an early timeout after the Wildcats took a 10-7 lead on a 4-0 run and Tennessee would then chip away only to see Kentucky reinstate its four-point lead at 17-13 in the midway part of the set. Tennessee then went on a 4-0 run, its longest run of the set, to tie things at 17-17 and Kentucky blew for its first timeout of the set with UT even for the first time since it was 7-7. Kentucky won the next five-straight points out of the timeout on Trinity Ward’s service run to make things 22-17 and with UK leading by five, UT burned its final timeout. Kentucky won the set 25-22 on its fourth set point and closed out the frame to square the match. Brooklyn DeLeye had 11 kills on 23 swings to lead all Wildcats through two sets of action with Eva Hudson knocking on the door of double figures on eight kills and Kassie O’Brien had 25 assists on 30 UK kills through the opening two sets and Molly Tuozzo had 13 digs to lead all players in the match.
Set 3
The Wildcats continued their high level of play in the third set, taking the frame wire to wire with a 25-15 third-set victory. Kentucky got four kills from behind the setter from the arm of supersub Jordyn Dailey who hit .400 in the frame and Kentucky hit .295 as a team with Brooklyn DeLeye having 16 kills after the set was over. The set though was all about UK’s floor defense as Molly Tuozzo’s backline held Tennessee to .022 for the frame with nine kills and eight errors from the Lady Vols with Kentucky also getting a pair of blocks in the set. Kentucky took a 10-6 lead and with its lead at four, it saw Tennessee call for its first timeout. Out of the timeout, the Lady Vols won two points, but then Kentucky ran off nine of the next 12 to take a 19-10 lead, its largest of the match in any set to that point. The UK lead grew to double digits at 10 for the first time at 24-14 and a kill by Lizzie Carr out of the middle got the Wildcats to set point with a 10-point cushion before a Tennessee attack error, its eighth of the set, ended the frame and Kentucky took a 2-1 lead for the match with a 25-15 third-set win.
Set 4
Kentucky jumped out to a 9-5 lead in the fourth set and was hitting over .600 as a team before Tennessee responded with a 4-0 run and pushed the Wildcats into a timeout. The Lady Vols took their first lead of the set when they led 15-14 and that lead was two at 16-14, one fewer than the largest lead for UT at 19-16 which prompted a Kentucky timeout, their last. Brooklyn DeLeye and Brooke Bultema ignited a 3-0 run with a pair of DeLeye kills and a Bultema block that sent the score to 19 all and Tennessee burned its final timeout with things even at 19’s. Kentucky then sided out to make things 22 all and Tennessee got an overpass kill to make things 23-22 in favor of the Orange and White. Kentucky then closed the match on a 3-0 run with a UT net fault closing out the match despite a last-ditch hail mary challenge from the UT staff.
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