The third-highest crowd in regular-season history saw No. 3 Kentucky Volleyball beat No. 19 Tennessee 3-1 (22-25, 25-23, 25-18, 25-18) on Sunday afternoon as 6,236 fans packed Historic Memorial Coliseum to watch the Wildcats win their sixth top 25 match of the season and run its winning streak to 17 matches.
The crowd of 6,236 is only the third crowd in UK home match history to surpass 6,000 fans and the most to witness a match in Lexington since 1983. The two higher crowds in UKVB history are from 1983 and 1993 when Memorial Coliseum had the older configuration model. The Wildcats have now played this season in front of four crowds of over 6,000 fans, setting a new program record in that category. UK lost to Nebraska, but beat Tennessee, Penn State and Louisville in front of such crowds.
Eva Hudson and Brooklyn DeLeye held the offensive line for UK on Sunday afternoon, hitting .381 and .211 respectfully as Kentucky hit .252 as a team. Hudson led the match with 19 kills on 42 swings with five digs and four blocks as two were solo roofs. DeLeye went for 18 kills on a team-high 57 swings with an ace, five digs and two blocks. Kassie O’Brien ran the UK offense to the tune of 40 assists on 53 of Kentucky’s kills in the match with four blocks, including a solo block in the opening set.
Molly Tuozzo’s strong floor defense held Tennessee to .240 for the match as a team as Tuozzo’s 12 digs alongside Kassie O’Brien led the way for the Wildcats in that category. The double-double for O’Brien was her sixth of the year. Kentucky also had a terrific serving match as the Wildcats dropped in five aces on the Lady Vols with UT only acing UK once.
Kentucky is now 20-2 in 2025 and holds a 13-0 record in the Southeastern Conference with two matches remaining for all teams in the SEC. UK will play Oklahoma (7-6) and Arkansas (1-12) to close the season needing to win one of the two matches to secure a tie of the SEC title and controls its own destiny to win the outright title if it wins both matches. UK plays Oklahoma on Friday at 7 p.m. ET with the broadcast on SEC Network+ and the ESPN app before closing the regular season Sunday at 1 p.m. ET against Arkansas. Texas A&M sits one match back at 12-1 with Texas at 11-2. UK has guaranteed itself a double-bye in the SEC Tournament and a top three seed in Savannah.
Courtesy of UK Athletics
