Offense Carries Cats to Sweet 16
On Thursday night, in the first round of the 2025 NCAA Volleyball Tournament, Kentucky struggled on offense in the beginning of the match. The Cats relied on a stellar defensive effort until the offense got going in a 3-0 win over Wofford.
Kentucky experienced no such issues on Friday. Junior Brooklyn DeLeye tied her career high with 30 kills and Eva Hudson had 27, one short of her career best, as the Cats topped UCLA in four sets. As a team, UK hit .400, including a sizzling .643 in the fourth set. UK head coach Craig Skinner loved the effort of his two All-Americans.
“I give these two (Hudson and DeLeye) a lot of credit for carrying the offensive load and bailing us out of some situations, which was huge,” Skinner said. “And Kassie [O’Brien] was giving them hittable balls and our secondary setters also were a huge part of that match. We had 77 kills and 63 digs, and we needed every single one of them.”
DeLeye credited her setter and her teammates for her performance.
“Kassie did a great job of getting it to us,” DeLeye said. “I had full trust in the people behind me so I was just swinging away.”
One night after having a slow start on offense, the Cats bounced back in a big way. Hudson believes that the Cats can beat opponents in a variety of ways.
“It just shows the versatility of this team,” Hudson said. “Every player is coming in ready to play. We have such a deep bench so you have to be ready for every situation. Something a good team has to do is be able to adapt to each opponent.”
Hudson believes that she and DeLeye feed off each other.
“We like to call it a flow state. It feels like everything you do just goes right, and, when you see the other one going off, it’s like, ‘Oh, well, that seems fun’,” Hudson said. “So that’s kind of my mentality. Also, our back row has really consistently been giving us shots, calling them out. So, when I can’t see the block, I just trust them. And most of the time it works out.”
UCLA head coach Alfie Reft was impressed with Hudson and DeLeye.
“Their vision and their tool kit, their ability to hit every angle on the court is pretty impressive,” Reft said. “We certainly scouted for that but seeing it in person was a little bit different. Kudos to them and to Craig for the work he’s doing with them. We haven’t seen a lot of outsides that can do that to us. You’ve got two of the best in the country here.”
As they have done all season, Hudson and DeLeye carried the Cats on Friday night. The Cats move on to the Sweet 16, where there’s no doubt that these two stellar outside hitters will be counted on again.
