Pin Hitters Propel Kentucky Into NCAA Regionals With 3-1 Win
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Powered by 57 combined kills from Brooklyn DeLeye and Eva Hudson, the top-seeded Kentucky Volleyball team punched its ticket into the NCAA Regionals with a 3-1 (30-28, 25-16, 28-30, 25-17) tight four-set win over a gritty eighth-seeded UCLA team out of the Big Ten.
With the win Friday night, Kentucky will now host the NCAA Regional round next weekend for the right to go to the NCAA Final Four. The matches will either be Thursday/Saturday or Friday/Sunday with the announcement coming from the NCAA after the completion of other second round matches Saturday night. Additionally, TV assignments will be announced Saturday night. For those fans interested in acquiring tickets to the NCAA Lexington Regional, all-session tickets will be on sale Monday at 10 a.m. ET with single-session tickets on sale Tuesday at 10 a.m. ET on UKathletics.com. Fans can also check the Kentucky Volleyball social media page for more information on tickets.
DeLeye tied her career high with 30 kills Friday night, as she equaled her career best that was set against Georgia in her freshman campaign back in 2023. Eva Hudson had 27 kills in the match tonight hitting .463 on the evening with 10 digs for a double-double. DeLeye was only two digs short of a double-double as she had eight digs in the match. Those two were the only two Wildcats in the match with 10-plus kills as UK hit .400 on the night with Asia Thigpen logging an errorless night on 13 swings with eight kills to hit .615, a new career high for the sophomore.
Kassie O’Brien set a new career high with 60 assists on the night as she led the UK offense to a .400 night offensively with 13 digs for her 10th double-double of the season. On defense, it was Molly Tuozzo who had 15 digs, the most of any player in the white Friday night and both Lizzie Carr and Asia Thigpen had four blocks to lead the Wildcats. UK was outblocked by one at 7-6 for the match as a team.
Kentucky is now 27-2 on its season. UCLA closes its year with a 19-13 record, earning a seed at the NCAA Tournament for the first time under third-year head coach Alfee Reft.
Set 1
In Kentucky’s longest set of the season, the Wildcats fought off three set points from the Bruins to take a 30-28 opening frame and an early 1-0 lead in the match. UCLA raced out to a 5-1 lead thanks to a 5-0 run in the earlygoing before UK took charge with a Molly Tuozzo service run to make things 11-8 in favor of the Wildcats with a eight of the next nine points going Kentucky’s way in the set. The media timeout came at 15-13 in favor of UK thanks to a huge stuff block by Asia Thigpen and Lizzie Carr for UK’s first defensive stop at the net of the night. Kentucky had a lead of three points as late as 19-16 before UCLA won the next three points to push UCLA into a timeout. UCLA then took the lead with a late run to grab the set control at 21-20 and UK burned its first timeout. After UK won the next two and UCLA blew for time, it was the Bruins turn to step into set point at 24-23 which was fought off by the Wildcats. UK then picked up set point at 27-26 and failed to convert before the Bruins had things at 28-27 and a Brooklyn DeLeye kill ended that threat. Kentucky then went ahead 29-28 on an extended-rally termination from Eva Hudson and a back-row kill ended the set with UK winning, 30-28. Kentucky hit .275 in the opening set with 21 kills to seven errors while UCLA hit .232 with 20 kills and seven errors in a set of razor-thin margins. Brooklyn DeLeye had nine kills to lead all players in the first set with Eva Hudson scoring eight points with no errors on a team-high 19 swings. Kassie O’Brien had seven digs to lead all UK players as well as 16 assists, the most of either side in the frame.
Set 2
Set two was in Kentucky’s control from start to finish as the Wildcats led from wire to wire as it took a 2-0 lead in the match with a 25-16 second set win. The lead for Kentucky was as many as nine with UK leading 21-12 as Molly Berezowitz served a 7-0 run to take what was a 14-12 lead and make things 21-12. UCLA burned both of its timeouts before UK got to 20 points and eventually it was an Eva Hudson cut shot that ended the frame with Kentucky taking the set, 25-16, closing things out on a 3-0 scoring run. UK hit a monstrous .464 in the second set as UCLA hit .194 with UK notching 15 kills to only two errors and the Bruins recording 13 kills to six errors. Kassie O’Brien had 13 of Kentucky’s 14 assists in the second set as the Wildcats setter logged 30 kills through the opening pair of sets on the night. The Wildcats had four players with five or more assists through two frames and five blocks with three coming in the second set alone with Lizzie Carr and Asia Thigpen leading the way with a trio each.
Set 3
UCLA fought off two set and match points in the third set as Kentucky led the entire third set and took a 24-22 lead on a kill by Brooklyn DeLeye to give UK the two-point cushion and two shots at match point. On its first chance, DeLeye hammered one to the corner that was called out and on review by Craig Skinner, was upheld and confirmed to make things 24-23. On the next point, UCLA won an extended rally to make things 25-25 and square the set as the Wildcats again were unlucky on a challenge. UCLA had three set points at 26-25, 27-26, 28-27 and then converted on a kill to end the third, 30-28.
Set 4
Kentucky ran away and hid in the fourth set, leading in all but one of the points when UCLA eked out an 8-7 advantage. Molly Berezowitz then went on another nice service run, pushing the UK lead to 17-13 as UCLA burned its first timeout. The UK block of Carr and Thigpen pushed the Wildcats ahead by a set-high seven points at 21-14 as Historic Memorial Coliseum roared UCLA into its final timeout and the Wildcats coasted to the finish line with a kill by Asia Thigpen. UK hit .643 in the fourth set with 19 kills and one error as Kassie O’Brien had 19 assists on all 19 of UK’s kills in the set. UK sided out at 82 percent in the fourth set.
For the latest on UK Volleyball, follow the Wildcats on Twitter and Instagram at @KentuckyVB.
POSTGAME QUOTES
Kentucky Head Coach Craig Skinner
Opening statement:
“I think we got a real good picture of what UCLA is tonight. Their high end is pretty ridiculous, so for us to weather the storms in the first set and pull that out and then added pressure after losing the third set, a tight one, I give these two (Hudson and DeLaye) a lot of credit for carrying the offensive load and bailing us out of some situations, which was huge. 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 so, happy to be moving on.”
On the offensive rhythm and balance of the team…
“To be honest, I’ll give some credit to UCLA for that because they were serving some bullets at these guys and it wasn’t that the passes were bad. [The serves] created tough rhythm because some of them were low, some of them were high, some of them were off, and so it was really hard to get offensive rhythm with a quick attack. I think Kassie [O’Brien] did a good job when she had her opportunities, but also, we needed to rely on [DeLeye and Hudson] to get some big time kills for us even though they knew there were going to be four hands in their face.”
On how the team responds to high pressure moments…
“I think experience is very helpful in these situations, and I think I’ve said it before, there’s match pressure, there’s first and second round pressure, there’s regional pressure, and if you’ve never been in it before, you don’t really know what it feels like. So, when you do get to 25-25, 26-26, there’s really nothing else you can do but be prepared for the next whistle. You can’t get caught up in how we did three previous points or what might happen if we win this set and those guys do a really good job and I think that you see our team play with a lot of enthusiasm and joy in those moments and you credit them for embracing the opportunity to play in a pressure match like that.”
On feeding off of the crowd during the match…
“I did hear them quite a bit. ‘Go Big Blue’ chants were very prevalent tonight at key moments and it was very hard to hear at times. It was awesome to hear them get behind us when we needed the lift and even at the beginning of the fourth set, they were into it. I’m sure some of them were like “Oh I’m going to get home, put my feet up and watch TV”, and that’s the beauty of volleyball, you never know until it’s over, but they got behind us, and it gives you goosebumps when you hear those chants going on.”
#7 Eva Hudson, OH
On combining with Brooklyn DeLeye for 16 of the team’s 19 kills in the fourth set…
“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’. 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.”
On the team’s offensive performance…
“It just shows the versatility of this team. 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.”
On the team’s mentality in the final stages of sets…
“Pressure makes diamonds. You just unlock a different mentality and you can see it in every player’s eyes. What’s so special about this team is that they don’t get small in big moments. It’s like we almost shine brighter. So, it really just gives us more confidence. We’ve been in so many fifth sets and have been down so many points. Even like the Texas game, we just knew we’ve been in these situations before so we can be successful.”
#17 Brooklyn DeLeye, OH
On bouncing back after tipping at the end of the third set…
“That was just a mistake on my part, and I knew I let my team down at that moment. So, I just knew that going into that fourth set, we were just not going to lose that one.”
On her relationship with Eva Hudson…
“I think it was kind of just natural; we clicked right away. It’s just been really fun to have someone like Eva in the gym every single day to push me. And I think it just helps us on the court as well, because even tonight, like she was talking about, she was getting kills like crazy, and then I just wanted to do my part to help her out. So, it’s really hard across the net when you have almost every hitter on our side that’s pretty unstoppable. So I think it’s just a testament to how hard we work.”
On recovering from a slow start in the first set…
“I think we knew they were going to pounce from the very beginning, and I don’t think we came out from the very first point. So I think we just knew that we had to respond and fight back, because they weren’t going down without a fight.”
UCLA Head Coach Alfee Reft
On his feelings after the match…
“I’m proud of our team for the match we played tonight, certainly for the run we had in this tournament. Kentucky–hats off to them. They are the real deal. They’re a good team. But I told our team in the locker I’m proud of how we went about our process in this tournament. And I extremely proud of each player on this team and what they built this year. I’m proud of [Lola Schumacher and Kate Duffey] sitting with me and what they mean to the movement of this program, what they will mean to the movement of this program within the next two years. We don’t feel great about the loss, but we were proud of what we were building in the process that we’re having so.”
On the team’s attitude after a tight first set…
“I think we primed in and prefaced this match, knowing what’s going to be one run every set. It’s going to come down a one run. We expected that, knowing their grade. It hurt, but we weren’t surprised. It was just a quick reset, and it’s like, ‘okay, what are the changes we need to make’? I thought their outsides starting to get pretty hot, and those outsides are pretty impressive. We were more problem solving and making sure we just make the adjustments tactically that we need to make. The team was incredibly focused–no rattle–and just very mission-oriented and ready to move into the next set. So, I’m really proud of their composure and their voice through tight sets, through getting blown out, and then coming back in the third set, I think it was a testament to the maturity of his team through the year.”
On Eva Hudson and Brooklyn DeLeye’s impact on the game…
“I think, physically, they’re playing on a different level. Regardless of where alignments were, I thought they were just playing at a height that you couldn’t touch and block. And then their vision and their tool kit, their ability to hit every angle record, is pretty impressive. We certainly scouted for that and seeing it in person was a little bit different. So kudos to them and to Craig for the work he’s done with them. I’ve seen both of their college careers, and I think they’re playing the best volleyball they’ve played. They’re getting better. We haven’t seen a lot of outsides that can do that to us.
#3 Kate Duffey, S
On feelings after first set…
“I think it’s hard to lose like that after fighting for so long, but I’m proud of the way we fought. We had it together and we were confident about the way we moved forward.”
On building momentum after a tough second set…
“I think the second set definitely just started to slip away from us and that pissed us off. We came back in the third set with a little bit of fire, which I think fueled us a little bit into that third set. It was a win or go home set for us so we were definitely playing with that on the line.”
#30 Lola Schumacher, L
On feelings after first set…
“We knew it was going to be a battle tonight and we knew it was going to go point for point, dig for dig, set for set, and kill for kill. They fought and we fought for those sets, and like they coach said, it’s not great to lose, but I think our energy and momentum into the second set was great.”
On tonight’s environment…
“When we come into these games, it’s tunnel vision. We have our blinders on and we’re going to do what we do and they’re going to do what they do, but we really focus on not letting outside noise and talk really affect us. We really just hone in on what we want to do, what we do well, and doing that on the court.”
On preparation for tonight’s game…
“I would say trusting our training helps. Credit to the coaches, we will never play a game that’s harder than any one of our practices. Credit to them for putting us into those situations because we’re prepared every single time we step on the court. And credit to the Big Ten because every team you play in the Big Ten is a battle.”
