Lizzie Carr’s 11 Kills Push Kentucky into Elite Eight Saturday
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Thanks to a .419 hitting efficiency as a team and 11 kills from junior middle blocker Lizzie Carr, the Kentucky Volleyball team swept Cal Poly 3-0 (25-18, 25-19, 25-7) on Thursday afternoon inside Historic Memorial Coliseum to advance into Saturday’s Lexington Regional Final in Lexington.
Kentucky will now play Creighton on Saturday in the 2025 Lexington Regional Final for a spot in the Final Four. The match time has been conformed for 5 p.m. ET. The match will be televised by ESPN2. Tickets can be purchased at UKathletics.com/tickets. Creighton beat second-seeded Arizona State 3-1 on Thursday in the opening match of the regional.
UK had seven players who had multiple kills in the match Thursday as the Carr led the way with 11 and Eva Hudson having nine in the match without an error on 24 swings for a .375 hitting percentage. Brooklyn DeLeye had eight kills Thursday night with eight digs, as well as the Kentucky offense was firing on all cylinders during the match.
UK’s defense was the main story Thursday as the Wildcats held Cal Poly to a .114 hitting percentage for the afternoon, including a -.083 mark for the third set alone. Cal Poly was forced into 19 hitting errors during the match and Kentucky had nine stuff blocks as a team, including four in the third set alone as UK cruised to a 25-7 third-set sealing mark.
Kennedy Washington was errorless Thursday afternoon with seven kills on 10 swings to hit .700 and she also threw in three blocks as Carr’s six blocks led the way for UK’s defense. Between Carr and Washington, they combined for 18 kills and only one error in the match along with nine blocks in what ended up determining the difference in the outcome.
Kassie O’Brien ran the Kentucky offense to a .419 hitting percentage with 31 assists in the match. Molly Tuozzo had nine digs to lead the Wildcats in the floor defense category and Tuozzo also added in five assists to her stat line, as well.
Set 1
Kentucky hit .464 in the first set and took the opener, 25-18 over the Mustangs to grab a 1-0 lead in the match. UK jumped out to the quick 4-1 lead on two kills each by Lizzie Carr and Brooklyn DeLeye to put the Mustangs under immediate pressure. Cal Poly pushed back and pulled to within one at 4-3 but Kentucky then raced out to another three-point lead at 9-6 and never looked back. The Wildcats took a 15-12 lead into the media break following a Mustang blocking error and then after UK won two of the next three points out of the media timeout, they called one of their own, their first, at 17-13. A stuff by Kennedy Washington pushed Kentucky in front 21-17 and Cal Poly burned its final timeout. Kentucky arrived at set point leading 24-18 and an ace from Trinity Ward sealed the first set as UK won it, 25-18. Lizzie Carr had a team-best five kills in the first set, on five swings to hit 1.000 as Kentucky hit .464 as a team. Kassie O’Brien had 10 assists on 15 of UK’s kills with Kentucky logging 15 kills to two errors in the frame. UK never trailed in the first set.
Set 2
UK held Cal Poly to .079 hitting in the second set and claimed a 2-0 lead in the match with a 25-19 second-set victory. The Wildcats hit .257 for the frame and had 17 digs en route to taking the set. Kentucky trailed early at 5-2 but a 5-0 Trinity Ward serving run pushed Kentucky in front for the first time all set and the lead grew to multiple points on a kill from Eva Hudson on the left side to make things 7-5. Kentucky’s lead became four at 11-7 and at the media timeout, an extended-rally kill by Lizzie Carr pushed UK to 15-12 at the break. Cal Poly used its first timeout when it trailed 9-4 and then a pipe by Brooklyn DeLeye made things 20-14 as UK took the six-point lead for the first time all day. Cal Poly burned its final halt to play at 22-16 and a service ace ended the second set, just as it did the first, as Molly Tuozzo pushed across her first ace of the day to close the book on the second set with a 25-19 frame. Kentucky had 14 kills in the set and Kassie O’Brien had 21 assists through the opening two sets of play.
Set 3
Kentucky ran away and hid in the third set, jumping out to a 13-3 lead thanks to a huge serving run by Trinity Ward, whose serve caused problems for the Mustangs all afternoon long. Ward exited the run with Kentucky ahead by 10 and the Wildcats quickly grew the lead to 12 at 16-4, the largest lead for the Wildcats in any set this tournament. The lead grew to 25-7 late in the set as a kill by Kennedy Washington put the match away with her seventh kill of the night. UK hit .609 for the third set with 14 kills and zero errors with 12 assists for O’Brien.
For the latest on UK Volleyball, follow the Wildcats on Twitter and Instagram at @KentuckyVB.
Kentucky Postgame Quotes
Kentucky Head Coach Craig Skinner
Opening Statement…
“I told Caroline at the end of the match, that the last set was no indication of her team. They had a heck of a year, and one of the things that was really important for us in this match was to apply a lot of serving pressure so their lightning-fast offense couldn’t get going, which it did in the first set. I think the pressure was really good, and the offensive connection between Kassie and Lizzie and Kennedy in our middles really helped spread the offense so that we were multi-dimensional, which I think caused problems. I’m really pleased with our focus in the first set to be able to give us some separation when we needed to.”
On the game plan to go to the middle…
“I think a little bit of both. I think it was important, you know, Kyle talked to the starts about the game plan before the match, and definitely establishing the middle is important in any match. As it continued to go very well, there’s no reason to go away from it. You know, so we’re continuing to score, got to keep going. Cassie did a really good job of finding them, both in serve, receive and transition.”
On Cassie’s performance as a freshman…
“I mean, her demeanor has been the same since January, and we’re in December now. Her demeanor at practice games, matches, SEC championship match, first match of a weekend, it’s always the same. So, I credit her for her toughness to weather pretty much anything that’s thrown in her direction. Very proud as a coach to see the way she handles things.”
Kentucky Student-Athletes
#15 Lizzie Car, MB
On Lizzie being the go-to hitter this game…
“We know that a lot of teams are going to draw a lot of attention to Brooklyn and Eva and so we have to find a way to score from another part of the court and tonight, Kassie was able to put me and Kennedy in really good positions, and then we would score from the back side as well. We were just able to score from other avenues at the court, which is going to be really important going forward.”
On message for her teammates…
“I was just talking about given props to Trinity. She had an amazing few star runs throughout the game, and we would not have been able to see what we did without her putting so much pressure on them from behind the line and that I talked about how we were going to need to we knew going into this match, we were going to need to have really good defense, not just blocking, but digging the ball as well. I also talked about how going into tomorrow or Saturday and the next game, we’re going to need to be able to bring that again because there’s going to be a lot of great hitters and so we’re going to need to use our block and our backcourt to defend them.”
On the fans …
“I just think that we obviously got the second got to host the second and third round, and so it’s really cool to be able to have BBN show out and make it feel like a real home court advantage because without them, there wouldn’t really be a huge difference in it being here or someone else besides some of the like routine stuff getting ready for pregame and so the whole entire crowd being blue and being so loud is just what’s such a big benefit for us. “
#6 Kassie O’Brien, S
On connection with the middles…
“I think each day in practice, it’s something that we want to work on, and it just continues to grow. And so tonight, I don’t know, we’re just kind of feeling it, and our passing did a great job to put us in a good position in order for you to do it to Lizzie and then to Kennedy, too.
But I think being able to balance the difference between the two hitters has been a challenge, but, you know, they do a great job of communicating with me and we connect really well, and so just finding that connection has been really big.”
On what she saw on the court…
“I think spreading out the offense is such an important piece of the game and going into this match we knew that so many other hiters were going to have a lot of success and then also opening or setting the middles in the rights are just going to open up them even more. Just finding that throughout the game has just been something that we’ve continued to work on and it was very good tonight.”
On the fans …
“I think it’s super cool. I feel like even in that third set, it was we kind of talked about it, it was like, kind of the loudest that we’ve heard it and it just being a Thursday at 3:30, you wouldn’t really expect that, but it just shows how much, you know, BBN really shows out for us and is there.”
#7 Eva Hudson
On Lizzie’s game…
“Well, personally, I’ve been with her for a very long time, so it’s like a proud mom moment, and I love watching her swing away with confidence and she’s such a great player. So I’m glad she is reaping the amazing success. But as if for a team, she brings so much energy to the team in the first place, and then when she’s scoring relentlessly that is so fun and then it makes me in Brooklyn’s job so much easier.”
On the fans …
“It’s just absolutely amazing. Some people were like, do you think we’ll get a crowd? And our whole team was like, ‘Nah, like, we’ll have a crowd cause they show up every single time.’ And it’s so funny cause we don’t even know what Craig’s up to and then we see the post and he’s in a plane, so we’re about in the dark, as you all. It’s absolutely amazing being able to play in front of them and then being able to play in front of them on Saturdays,
Cal Poly Postgame Quotes
Cal Poly Head Coach Caroline Walters
Opening Statement …
“All good things come to an end I guess. And my seniors here, the three of them, we have overwhelming gratitude for this journey. Kentucky is an amazing volleyball team, and I was telling my assistant, you know, on film, and we get a ton of numbers, and we watch so much film, the hardest thing to assess is serving from film. And I thought they served the toughest serving match of any team we played this year. So, you know, forced us to get off the net. And from there, it’s tough to kill balls against them, because they are so big as blockers and play tremendous defense. So hats off to them. I told Craig to win it, and then we can tell people we finished second. No, I again, just, just this has been an amazing, amazing time for us, these past few weeks of whirlwind and gratitude to represent Cal Poly on national stage. You know, we’re hearing from people all over the country, and it’s just been incredible to represent not only our great university, but mid majors in general, and to be here in a sweet 16 competing against an amazing university and a beautiful facility. Yeah, we’re just thankful for that. I personally am thankful to be one of three female head coaches of a sweet 16 team, I think it’s really important to be visible, not only as a female but a mother. It’s something that, you know, I want to model for these guys, and I hope that a few my players over the years will want to stay in coaching, because they see the way I’m able to balance my personal and professional life. And Emmie, when she first came her freshman year. She I mentioned this the other day. She was a kids coach. She grew up in her dad’s, her dad’s program, Division Three, football, Whitewater, Wisconsin. And as she came, one of her first things she said to me is, I’m never going to be a coach. Like, I hate that life for kids, blah, blah. And I’m like, I didn’t have kids then, and then I had kids. And I’m like, okay, and over the years, I think that one of the coolest things is, like, Emmie’s plan when she goes back is she wants to be a coach and like, this is incredible. Making a sweet 16 is great. But to influence my athletes, like, want to be in this profession and be able to do it while being a mother, that’s going to sit on my heart for a while.”
On Kentucky going to the middle so much …
“Yeah, you know, scouting wise, you look at the numbers, and they’re receiving, you know, a bulk of that, and they were able to find their middles, you know, I thought we served well at times. I think that they, they just settled in service, you passing, and were able to stay in system. And, yeah, they said, especially the slide, right, like that wasn’t something that was being said at a high percentage. So they ran the middle really efficiently and effectively. And we spent a lot of time preparing our blockers for the balls going that way. If it’s not going that way, be ready for the one out of the middle, like we have to be able to slow that down. And I thought that Craig did an incredible job of finding not only the middles. I thought they said the opposite effectively as well any of the athletes want to address that.”
Cal Poly Student-Athletes
#4 London Haberfield, L/DS
On making it to the Sweet 16 …
“Yeah, I just think us seniors will hold on to this forever. We’re just so happy that we could put Cal Poly on the map. As a senior, and leaving that legacy behind, that’s something that you dream about. So just riding that high, I’m going to ride it for the rest of my life. Yeah, just the past few weeks, just being in the tournament, it’s just, it’s so amazing. I’m just so grateful for every single one of these people.”
On the challenges of Kentucky’s serving….
“Oh, yeah, they just, they pushed face and then they would catch you off guard with their drops and just clogging the routes for the middles and stuff. They were just so effective in the way that they chose who to serve and where to serve and specific pace on all. It’s something that it’s tough to practice, especially in a gym that’s filled with so many fans. Yeah, I’m just grateful that we could experience that and for them to go back into the gym and turn up that volume on that serve.”
On Cal Poly fans support…..
“Thank you. From the bottom of my heart, it’s been an incredible five years. And just the support is a lot – it’s so present and it’s just so felt by all of us on the court, off the court, seeing those stands packed, seeing the band there. I just couldn’t ask for a better environment to play”
#20 Annabelle Thalken, OH
On making it to the Sweet 16 …
“Yeah, I think trust was a huge work for us this entire time. We talked about having trust in each other, trust in our scout, trust in our ability, going into the big West tournament, and then after that, we just had continued with that. We kept our trust with each other and just believed that we could do something special. And we very clearly did.”
#14 Emmie Bullis, S
On making it to the Sweet 16 …
“Yeah, when I first opened my phone after we had won to go to the Sweet 16 and my brothers both texted me and said, we gotta get those pictures framed. I just think it’s something that will forever be with us. But it’s all of our hard work, but also our teammates hard work and the people that are behind the scenes that got us here. I mean, we’ve been playing volleyball since we were 11 and it’s our senior year, it’s lined up perfectly and we’re gonna go out on such a high. I’m just thankful to be around these people and be able to hold these memories in a frame somewhere in my house someday.”
On a moment of adversity that urged you to battle back….
“I mean, I think our low for the season was getting swept by Irvine in our last home match in Big West. And we all were, we could feel that. Like there were a few losses we had in conference that we could just visibly see our team taking heart. I took it to heart so much, but Caroline has said this before, if it wasn’t for that, I don’t think we would be here where we are right now because those losses have made us who we are. So if it wasn’t for those, if it wasn’t for the people challenging us in our conference, we wouldn’t be where we are today.”
