On Sunday afternoon in Memorial Coliseum, No. 9 Kentucky Volleyball defeated Ball State 3-0 (25-17, 25-21, 25-13), earning the Wildcats’ fifth win of the season, leaving them 5-2.
The Cats managed to hit a season-high of .412 with 42 kills and only nine hitting errors. Kentucky delivered 12 aces, earning senior outside hitter Erin Lamb a new career-high of six. Sophomore Brooklyn DeLeye also registered 12 terminations, leading the offense.
As for Kentucky’s defense, sophomore Molly Tuozzo recorded 22 digs, setting a new career-high to go along with her triad of assists.
Outside hitter Megan Wilson also earned a season-high four blocks, joining redshirt freshman Brooke Bultema and freshman Kennedy Washington with various blocks for the Cats.
Wildcat setter Emma Grome also tallied 37 assists on Kentucky’s 42 terminations.
In the first set, Kentucky led 9-3 quickly with the help of a 4-0 service run by DeLeye including a duo of kills from Washington and an ace from DeLeye.
Washington then terminated her third ball in just three swings, pushing Kentucky’s lead to 17-11 before, after some back-and-forth battle, senior outside hitter Megan Wilson also reeled in her second kill of the set giving the Cats set point at 24-17.
The set closed out with Ball State’s fifth attacking error, leaving UK to take the opener 25-17. With DeLeye’s four kills, UK hit .444 in the frame and Tuozzo racked up seven digs.
In the second set, the Cardinals started hot and led by three at 6-3 and 12-9 before starting to fall back as Kentucky began catching up.
The Wildcats then regained the lead 15-14 heading into a media timeout after a net violation against Ball State. After the timeout, the Cardinals went on a 3-0 streak thanks to service errors by the Cats.
Washington then gave Kentucky the lead back 21-20 with an extended rally termination before a 6-1 run ended the set for the Wildcats, who took a two sets to none lead with their second set victory 25-21.
In the third and final set, Lamb had four aces in a 12-0 service run as the Cats started dominant to start the frame.
Redshirt freshman setter Ava Sarafa then provided the Wildcats a point during her service, growing the UK lead back to double digits at 18-8 after Ball State had to cut it to eight at one point earlier in the set.
The Cats then finished by taking a decisive set 25-13, securing the third and final win of the match.
Next weekend, Kentucky travels to Texas to compete in a tournament hosted by Southern Methodist University.
Friday night UK will play the hosts and, following that, play either Purdue or Houston on Saturday. The winners of Friday’s matches will play Saturday as well as the losers.
