DeLeye’s 22 Kills, Double-Double Spark 3-1 Win at Auburn
AUBURN, Ala. – Senior outside hitter Brooklyn DeLeye notched a double-double with 22 kills and 11 digs Friday night as No. 3 Kentucky beat Auburn 3-1 (25-16, 25-17, 23-25, 25-17) in a four-set match as UK picked up a Southeastern Conference road win in Neville Arena to move to 3-0 in the SEC.
DeLeye was one of three Kentucky players to have double-figure scoring Friday night as she was joined by Georgia Watson’s 14 kills and Asia Thigpen’s 14 terminations as they all filled in for Morgan Gaerte, who missed her second-straight match with an eye injury.
Offensively as a team, Kentucky hit .290 for the match buoyed by a robust .395 mark in the fourth set with 21 kills in the fourth set alone as Kentucky held Auburn under .200 for the match with seven blocks and outdigging the Tigers, 62-45 for the night. Lizzie Carr also notched nine kills and had two stuffs in Friday night’s match as she was the fourth-leading offensive player for UK.
Kassie O’Brien had 49 assists, one shy of 50 on the night with a pair of kills, 15 digs, tying her career high, and a block. Molly Tuozzo led the Wildcat floor defense with 10 digs on the evening and helped Kentucky’s passing win the serve/pass battle with five aces to Auburn’s four.
Kentucky will next play at No. 7 Florida on Sunday night at 8:30 p.m. ET in a top-10 showdown inside Exactech Arena in Gainesville, Florida. The match will be televised on ESPN as part of ESPN’s Women’s Sports Sunday package with Kevin Barnett, Missy Whittemore and Jessica Eley on the call from The Swamp.
UK is now 11-2 on the year and 3-0 in the SEC. Auburn with the loss falls to 11-3 and is 1-1 in conference action.
Set One
Kentucky won the first set 25-16 by closing the set on a 5-0 scoring run and 10-1 over a more extended period of time. UK led 7-3 after an ace from Brookyln DeLeye made things four points in UK’s advantage and that was backed up by Asia Thigpen’s first kill of the match to make things 8-4 on the next sideout. Auburn climbed back into the set with three in a row in two different instances to make things 10-10 and 15-15 before the Kentucky defense took charge and ran away with the set. Kentucky hit .310 for the set and held Auburn to .121 with seven hitting errors and two UK blocks, including one from Kennedy Washington on a solo stuff to end the set for her first defensive action of the set. Georgia Watson led the way on offense for UK with four kills on seven swings with a dig and a block and Kassie O’Brien and Brooklyn’s four digs each paced the Wildcats defense.
Set Two
UK started fast in the second set and a second ace of the match from Brooklyn DeLeye forced Auburn into an early timeout as the Wildcats were on a 4-0 run and led 7-5. Auburn would burn another timeout before the media stoppage as Asia Thigpen and Georgia Watson began to get the UK offense in a flow with Kentucky taking a 12-6 lead and Watson closing in on 10 kills in the match. Kentucky led 15-8 at the media break with its lead of seven being consistent for the set until Auburn went on a match-high 5-0 run with a pair of UK reception errors that cut into the UK lead and pushed Kentucky into its first timeout leading the Tigers by only three at 16-13. Kentucky then used a 7-2 run, mostly powered by Watson and Thigpen, to push its lead back to seven at 22-15 and Thigpen’s sixth kill of the match off an extended rally made things 23-15. An Auburn attack error ended the set with Kentucky taking things 25-17. UK held Auburn to .032 hitting in the second set to take control of the match.
Set Three
Kentucky led 8-4 in the early portions of the set before Auburn chipped away at things to make it 10 all through the first 20 points of the frame. Kentucky led by two at the media timeout at 15-13 and that would be the last two-point lead of the set for the Wildcats as Auburn then won three of the next four points to take a 19-18 lead and the teams traded sideouts all the way down the stretch. Auburn called its first timeout of the set after two-straight points for UK at 20-19 and then UK had to burn timeouts at 22-21 and 24-23 before Auburn won the set on a service ace, its second of the match to force the match to a fourth set.
Set Four
Kentucky completely dominated set four with 21 kills as a team on 43 swings with a .395 hitting percentage and holding Auburn to .162 for the frame.
For the latest on UK Volleyball, follow the Wildcats on Twitter and Instagram at @KentuckyVB.
