No. 3 Kentucky Volleyball sweeps Vanderbilt, now in sole possesion of 1st place in SEC

While you were trick-or-treating or partying, the best team on campus was taking care of business. The No. 3 Kentucky Volleyball squad swept Vanderbilt on Friday night, 3-0 (25-13, 25-16, 25-21), inside Memorial Coliseum. The Cats remain undefeated in SEC play (10-0, 17-2 overall) heading into Sunday’s huge matchup at No. 2 Texas.

Molly Tuozzo led the way for Kentucky with a team-high 14 digs, followed by Eva Hudson with 11 digs and 14 kills. Brooklyn DeLeye chipped in a team-high 16 kills, keeping her streak of matches with 10+ kills alive. DeLeye also had three digs, two aces, and an assist. It was an efficient night for the Kentucky offense, which registered only 10 hitting errors. Kassie O’Brien had 37 assists, six more than Vanderbilt’s entire team.

“Defensively, just really good tonight,” head coach Craig Skinner said afterward. “Smothering most of the night. If we weren’t touching their swings with our block, our defense was picking up in the back row, so very pleased with that.”

The matchup was a homecoming for two former Cats. Anders Nelson was the associate head coach under Skinner before leaving to start the volleyball program at Vanderbilt in 2022. Azhani Tealer, an All-American and member of the Cats’ 2020 national championship squad, is an assistant coach on his squad. Both got a warm welcome from the Memorial Coliseum crowd.

“The contributions that specifically Anders and Z made to this program are immeasurable,” Skinner said. “We owe them a lot and hopefully they take a piece of this program with them wherever they go.”

Last night was a good tune-up for what is shaping up to be the match of the season on Sunday, No. 3 Kentucky vs. No. 2 Texas at Gregory Gymnasium in Austin. The Longhorns lost last night at No. 9 Texas A&M, bringing their conference record to 11-1, which gives the Cats sole possession of first place in the SEC for the first time this season. Sunday’s match is set for 1 p.m. ET and will be televised on ESPN, with Courtney Lyle, Holly McPeak, and Madison Fitzpatrick on the call.

“I think we need to expect Texas’ best,” Skinner said. “Great environment down there. We have to go all in. You’ve got to go for it. I know our players are looking forward to the challenge and it will be back and forth all night. We’ve really enjoyed the opportunity to play in those matches.”

“I think it’s going to be an emotional game,” Molly Tuozzo agreed. “It’s going to be a really hard game and we’re good at winning the ugly, so I think there’s going to be a lot of long rallies in that match. We’ve been preparing this entire SEC run, so we’re excited.”

Sunday’s matchup vs. No. 2 Texas will be Kentucky’s seventh against a top-10 team this season. The Cats are 4-2 in those games so far, the only losses coming vs. No. 1 Nebraska in the second match of the season and at No. 7 Pitt on September 10.

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