Over 6,000 fans packed into HMC on Sunday afternoon, as the 6,045 announced attendance was the fifth-largest crowd in program history and the third-largest crowd since the 2024 renovations to the arena.
Kentucky got 22 kills from DeLeye and 20 from Morgan Gaerte, marking the first time this season the Wildcats have placed two players into 20+ kill range in the same match. Kassie O’Brien set a new season high in assists with 59, one off of her career-best number of 60 set last season.
UK has now won twice in a row in the Battle of the Bluegrass, after snapping a four-year losing streak from 2021-24. The Wildcats won in five sets at the KFC Yum! Center in 2025 and Sunday snapped a streak of two-straight wins for the Cards in HMC (2022 and 2024). The win for Kentucky is the second top-five feather for UK’s hat on the season, joining its season-opening triumph over Wisconsin in Milwaukee. Sunday also marked the end of the non-conference slate with Kentucky closing non-league play 8-2.
The Wildcats will now turn their attention to the Southeastern Conference, where it opens SEC play on Wednesday night in Nashville for the program’s first trip to Memorial Gymnasium to face Vanderbilt. The match will start at 9 p.m. ET and broadcasted live on SEC Network and the ESPN app.
UK lost the first set decisively, dropping a 25-19 decision that saw UofL sideout at over 70 percent, but then clawed back and won the second after trailing and facing two set points to tie the score at 1-1. Following that, Kentucky put the petal to the metal, closing things in impressive fashion.
Molly Tuozzo led the Kentucky defense with 21 digs, her new season high and fifth match in her career so far with 20+ digs. Morgan Gaerte’s four blocks were the leader for UK at the net with Lizzie Carr also adding in three stuffs.
Set One
Louisville ran out of the gates to a 4-0 lead and that advantage grew to nine at 7-2 as the Wildcats called their first timeout of the set. UL continued to push its lead in the early parts of the set to take a 14-5 lead at the media timeout with UK down nine, its largest deficit of the season in any set to that point. The Wildcats ran off three points in a row, including a 16-stanza rally that terminated with a kill from Morgan Gaerte to make things 18-13 and UK got within five for the first time since it was 7-2. The Cardinals then sided out over 80 percent down the stretch of the set to take the opener 25-19 hitting .324 for the first frame with five blocks and holding UK to .079 for set and 10 attack errors for the Wildcats.
Set Two
Kentucky squared the match with a 29-27 second-set win that went six deuce points and was tied 16 times throughout the frame with each team having a set point in the frame as the Wildcats won the key points in the middle stanza to claim the lead. Louisville raced out to a 13-11 lead and Kentucky burned its first timeout trailing by multiple points for the first time in the set. Out of the timeout, the Wildcats won four of five points to take a multi-point lead for the first time on their side of the net and Louisville called its first timeout trailing 18-16. The Wildcats were first into the 20’s with a 20-18 lead and arrived at set point for the first time at 26-25 after fending off two UL set points at 24-23 and 25-24. UK won the set on its third set point, 29-27 as a kill from Brookyln DeLeye who had 13 through two sets, ended the frame and tied the match at one set all.
Set Three
Kentucky took a two sets to one lead in the third with a 25-21 frame thanks to a .211 hitting percentage and holding the Cards to a .103 percentage for the set. Kentucky jumped out to a quick 8-5 lead and that was met quickly with a timeout from the Cards as the 6-0 run from the service line was sparked by Trinity Ward, who went for seven in serves in a row. The media timeout was reached with Kentucky leading by four at 15-11 and that lead grew to six at 17-11 thanks to a kill from Morgan Gaerte in transition that pushed the Cardinals into their final timeout. A kill from DeLeye out of system for her 16th of the match handed the Wildcats a 21-14 lead and with its lead the largest of the set, UK saw things out to close things on a 25-21 lead. UK held UofL to .108 in the frame offensively and Kassie O’Brien had 43 assists through the first trio of sets on the afternoon.
Set Four
Kentucky jumped on the Cards early, taking an 11-8 lead and pushing the Cards into an early timeout. The lead ballooned to eight at 17-9 and the Wildcats saw things out from there, closing the match by winning three of the last four points to hit .350 with 19 kills to five errors, 25-19 and closing the book on the Cards.
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