DeLeye’s 14 Kills and Tuozzo’s 19 Digs Advance Kentucky in NCAAT

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Brooklyn DeLeye’s 14 kills and Molly Tuozzo’s 19 digs were enough to send Kentucky past Wofford in a 3-0 (25-11, 25-19, 25-12) sweep of the Terriers in the first round of the NCAA Volleyball Tournament.

Kentucky will now play (8) UCLA on Friday night at 7 p.m. ET in Historic Memorial Coliseum in the second round. The match will be broadcasted on ESPN+ with Dick Gabriel and Cam Scheitzach on the call from Lexington. Tickets are available at UKathletics.com/tickets and parking around HMC is free of charge for the event.

UK hit .298 for the match, including a .438 hitting percentage in the third set, its highest-percentage output of the evening. The Wildcats had 66 digs in the match, which is now a school record for the most amount of digs in a three-set match in school history, both regular and postseason. Molly Tuozzo led the way with 19 digs and three other players had 10+ digs in the match with Molly Berezowitz having 13, Kassie O’Brien having 12 and Brooklyn DeLeye logging 11 on the night.

Wofford, who won the automatic bid out of the Southern Conference this season, finishes its year with a 17-14 overall record and finished its conference season with a 10-6 mark and SoCon Tournament Champions. This was Wofford’s second trip to the NCAA Tournament’s Lexington Sub-Regional as the Terriers played in Rupp Arena back in 2023 when they faced the Wildcats in the first round.

Set 1

Kentucky took a one set to none lead with an explosive 25-11 opening frame victory as the Wildcats held the Terriers to a -.048 hitting percentage with six kills to eight errors. Kentucky shot out of a cannon in the first few points to take an early multi-point lead at 13-6 as the Terriers called their first timeout down a set-high seven points. Kentucky began to slowly build its lead to a 10-point margin at 20-10 thanks to Eva Hudson’s five early kills to push UK into a double-digit advantage. Kentucky then closed the set on a 5-0 run as Hudson slammed one to the floor off an extended rally kept alive by Molly Berezowitz on set point to hand UK the 25-11 opening-set win. Kentucky hit .231 for the frame with 14 kills to five errors and UK recorded 26 digs with nine of them by SEC Tournament MVP, Molly Tuozzo to lead all UK players in the set. Brooklyn DeLeye had three kills in the opening set, going errorless on eight swings and a .375 hitting percentage. Lizzie Carr and Asia Thigpen combined for UK’s solo block in the set defensively.

Set 2

Kentucky took a 2-0 lead in the match thanks to a 25-19 second-set win. UK closed the set on a 5-0 run after it was the Terriers that controlled the lead for a majority of the second set, with its largest lead being two points at 12-10 midway through the stanza. The Wildcats then clawed back to take a 17-16 lead on an overpass kill and ran away with the second set from there. UK hit .256 in the set and held the Terriers to .191 for the set with UK having 15 kills to four errors in the set and 15 assists on the set with all 15 resulting in kills. Brooklyn DeLeye stayed errorless through the match with nine kills and no errors hitting .409 with eight digs for the match to that point.

Set 3

The third set was a dominant frame from the Wildcats, who closed out the Terriers with a 25-12 third-set win to complete the sweep. UK shot out of the starting gates to a 10-4 lead and Wofford called for an early timeout to try and stop a 5-0 Molly Tuozzo service run. The run grew to a set-high 7-0 spot and then Molly Berezowitz’s third ace of the night made things 18-9 and Wofford called its final timeout of the night. Kentucky, like it did in the second set, closed the third set on a 5-0 run and DeLeye’s 14th kill of the night ended the match.

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