Kentucky advances in SEC Volleyball Tournament with clean sweep of 8-seeded Auburn

Kentucky is moving on to the semifinals of the first SEC Volleyball Tournament since 2005.

The Wildcats, which entered the bracket as the top overall seed, had no problem taking down the 8-seeded Auburn Tigers on Sunday afternoon in Savannah, GA, cruising to a clean sweep (25-15, 25-20, 25-22) in the tournament quarterfinals. The win moves Kentucky to Monday’s semifinals, which will come against the winner of (4) Tennessee and (5) Florida at 6:00 p.m. ET on the SEC Network.

After receiving a double-bye in the field, Kentucky clearly had the fresh legs out of the gate against an Auburn team that took down Oklahoma in four sets less than 24 hours earlier. SEC Player of the Year Eva Hudson finished with 13 kills and eight digs on an impressive .520 hitting percentage, while All-SEC First Teamer Brooklyn DeLeye added a game-high 15 kills to go along with seven digs. SEC Freshman of the Year Kassie O’Brien posted 42 assists and 10 digs, with Molly Tuozzo, an All-SEC Second Team member, adding 10 digs of her own.

Kentucky has now won 20 straight matches and remains undefeated (16-0) against SEC competition. No matter who Monday’s opponent ends up being, it’ll be a team the Wildcats have already beaten. UK took down Tennessee 3-1 on Nov. 9 and knocked off Florida in five sets back on Oct. 19.

WILDCAT DOMINANCE 😸@KentuckyVB advances to the semifinals with a 3-0 W! #SECVB x #SECTourney pic.twitter.com/uQ8Keqimv6

— Southeastern Conference (@SEC) November 23, 2025

To open the match, Kentucky was locked in from the first serve of the afternoon. Three straight points for the Wildcats were enough to build some momentum. Kentucky’s lead grew to 10-5 and then to 15-10 at the media timeout. Out of the break, UK would rattle off four straight points before ultimately taking the first set 25-15. The ‘Cats recorded 15 kills while hitting .297 to get the match rolling.

But Auburn would fight back in the second set. When these two teams met back on October 15 (a 3-1 win for UK), the Tigers’ lone set win came in the second — they looked to replicate that again on Sunday. It was mostly a back-and-forth set, Auburn even taking a 15-14 lead into the media timeout. But the tides would turn after the Wildcats won a challenge that gave them an 18-16 lead, which ballooned to 20-16. A handful of kills from Hudson and DeLeye ended with a 25-18 set win for Kentucky and a commanding 2-0 lead. The ‘Cats hit even better in this set, .371 percent, while adding another 16 kills.

With backs against the wall, Auburn came out firing in the third set. The Tigers took the first lead, jumping ahead 4-2 before carrying that into an 11-9 advantage thanks in part to a couple of UK service errors. But three straight points from the ‘Cats put them in front for the first time all set. That would stretch out to a 6-0 run, giving UK a 14-11 lead as Auburn was forced to call a timeout. The Tigers would fight back to tie the match 15-15, even hanging around to make it 22-22 near the end. We wouldn’t see a fourth set, though, as DeLeye polished off the sweep with a kill to take the set, 25-22, and the match.

Once again, Kentucky proved on Sunday why this group is ranked second nationally and will be a contender for its second national championship. Craig Skinner’s squad will have a chance to do it once again on Monday.

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