Kentucky VB receives championship game rings: 'We will never take for granted what it means'

Craig Skinner and the Kentucky volleyball team finally got their jewelry coming off a historic season for the Wildcats that saw them make a run to the national championship game while also claiming SEC Tournament and regular season titles with a 30-win campaign overall and a 15-0 finish in the conference.

Storming through the tournament field to win the region as a Final Four participant and coming just one victory away from winning the whole thing in the first-ever all-SEC title matchup, Skinner’s Winners earned championship-game rings for their efforts.

Those were presented to the Wildcats this week, an honor limited to the very best of the best in the sport. This group certainly belonged in that conversation, earning six ranked wins in the regular season and 27 straight victories leading up to the title game before the heartbreaking loss to Texas A&M in the finale.

“Just wanted to say, first of all, how cool is it that you get the chance to put on a ring like that? I will never take winning championships for granted, because it’s really, really hard to do,” Skinner told the team. “It took us a long time to finally win some championships, and making Final Fours and winning SEC championships, it’s tough. You will never regret working your butt off to get to that point. …

“You’ll never take for granted and we will never take for granted what it means to put rings on fingers.”

Earned this. Never taken for granted.#WeAreUK x #BBN pic.twitter.com/XwGlwLhvan

— Kentucky Volleyball (@KentuckyVB) June 16, 2026

It’ll be another tough road back to the Final Four in 2026, taking on yet another juggernaut schedule that includes Wisconsin, Pittsburgh, UCLA, Penn State, North Carolina, SMU, Purdue or Houston and Louisville in the nonconference alone, plus the usual SEC slate coming off a year that saw the league put five teams into the NCAA Tournament — including the two championship finalists.

Fortunately for the Wildcats, however, they’ll have Brooklyn DeLeye, Molly Tuozzo, Lizzie Carr, Asia Thigpen, Molly Berezowitz, Kenny Washington and Kassie O’Brien all back, among others, from last year’s Final Four squad.

Can they go all the way? They have the title appearance rings to celebrate their prior achievements and to motivate them to finish the job this time around.