No. 3 Kentucky Sweeps Utah State in Home Opener
LEXINGTON, Ky. – No. 3 Kentucky swept Utah State 3-0 (25-13, 25-14, 25-17) in the home opener at Historic Memorial Coliseum on Friday night, as senior outside hitter Brooklyn DeLeye hit .600 in the match, and the Wildcats went the first 66 points of the match siding out at a 100 percent clip.
Kentucky hit .436 as a team and DeLeye led the way for the Wildcats with a 16-kill performance for the Wildcats. Lizzie Carr hit .583 out of the middle with a pair blocks. Sophomore setter Kassie O’Brien led the Kentucky offense to a .436 hitting clip with 33 assists on 44 of the Wildcats kills for the evening.
Defensively, UK held Utah State to .117 hitting for the match, including .000 in the final set. The defense for the Wildcats improved as the match went on as Utah State had a lower hitting percentage each set of the night with Molly Tuozzo logging 11 digs to lead all players and Kennedy Washington’s four blocks setting the pace.
Kentucky will return to action on Saturday night to close out the 2025 Bluegrass Battle at 6 p.m. ET against the South Florida Bulls. Eastern Kentucky will play Utah State at 2 p.m. ET on Saturday in the first game of the day at HMC with free admission. The Kentucky match will be broadcast on SEC Network+ and the ESPN app.
In Friday night’s pregame ceremony, the 2025 NCAA National Runner Up banner was unveiled inside HMC.
This was the season opening match for Utah State. Kentucky is now 2-1.
Set One
Kentucky hit a blistering .696 in the opening set with 16 kills and no hitting errors to claim the first set, 25-13 to jump out to the early lead. Brooklyn DeLeye had eight kills on just 10 swings without an error and an ace at the service line to go alongside. The Wildcats jumped out to a quick 13-6 lead which sent the Aggies into an early timeout after Lizzie Carr converted on the third of her fourth first-set kills. Morgan Gaerte put away a ball from the right side and then stuffed an Aggie attack midway through the set to make things 20-9 as the Wildcats took their largest lead of the set before a service error closed the frame as Kentucky took a 1-0 lead in the match, holding Utah State to .240 in the set. The Aggies never won two-straight points in the set as the Wildcats sided out at 100 percent in the opener.
Set Two
The Wildcats won set two, 25-14 and again were very efficient, hitting .391 for the set with only four hitting errors in the fame. The Aggies hung with the Wildcats for the first couple of points, but a 3-0 run sparked by Kennedy Washington’s block and the floor defense of Molly Tuozzo pushed the Wildcats to a 12-6 lead and UK was off and running in the set. The teams reached the media timeout with Kentucky leading 15-7 and a thunderous back-row kill from Brooklyn DeLeye, her 10th of the day, was the largest lead of the set for Kentucky, who took a 20-10 advantage. Kentucky then got a pair of kills out of the middle from Lizzie Carr to arrive at set point and a service error by the Aggies, their seventh of the match, handed Kentucky the 2-0 lead in the frame. UK held Utah State to .120 hitting in the second set as USU had seven hitting errors through the opening two sets.
Set Three
Kentucky jumped out to a 10-6 lead in the opening set and with a four-point advantage, Brooklyn DeLeye had an out-of-system kill to put UK up by five. Kentucky led by four at the media timeout at 15-11 but then Utah State went on a 5-0 run, its longest run of the night, to close the gap to 17-16. After the Wildcats called their first timeout of the night, they went on a 4-0 run to make things 24-16 and Kennedy Washington’s third kill of the match ended the night as UK won 25-17 to close the night.
For the latest on UK Volleyball, follow the Wildcats on Twitter and Instagram at @KentuckyVB.
