On Wednesday, Nov. 27th, No. 12 Kentucky volleyball (20-7, 14-2 SEC) defeated No. 25 Missouri (19-8, 10-5 SEC) in Columbia.
With the win, Kentucky claimed the 2024 SEC Championship outright.
The Wildcats used the back row early in the match, which would set up for several scoring opportunities. Mistakes like net violations cost Missouri some easy points as well, which lead to the 25-19 win in set one for Kentucky.
Riding that momentum into set two — and the committed mistakes from the Tigers — Kentucky found itself up 18-10 about 17 minutes into the set. During this set, Head Coach Craig Skinner seemed to encourage his players to intensify their pressure against the Missouri offense, which caused five more errors that would lead to a 25-14 win in set two for Kentucky.
In the hopes of sweeping match in set three, the Wildcats slipped up and lost their momentum from the earlier two sets. Missouri took advantage of the lack of intensity and built a 15-10 lead 16 minutes into set three.
Maya Sands, from Missouri, served an ace around the 20-minute mark, which lit a spark in her teammates as well. Missouri would slip past a struggling Kentucky team to force a set four with a 25-23 win in set three.
Missouri Head Coach Dawn Sullivan kept to the same game plan and managed to build a quick 10-5 lead into the final set.
Struggles still swirled around Kentucky as the deficit remained around five to six points until about the 17-minute mark as one of five of Brooklyn DeLeye’s aces flipped the momentum back to Skinner’s Wildcats.
More mistakes occurred on the Missouri side as Kentucky overcame the six-point deficit and defeated Missouri.
Kentucky had three players with double digit kills with DeLeye (19) leading the team. Megan Wilson (13) and Brooke Bultema (11) followed. DeLeye also led with five aces in the match while Jordyn Dailey had four blocks and one assist. Emma Grome had 54 assists and eight digs.
With the win, Kentucky claimed the outright 2024 SEC Championship and finished its regular season with an overall record of 20-7 and a conference record of 14-2.
With the postseason arriving, Kentucky is optimistic about making a deep run in the national tournament. Its next match’s information is TBD as seedings and matchups have not been released yet for the NCAA Tournament.
