Kentucky earned its spot in the regional semifinals of the 2024 NCAA Volleyball Championship, last beating sixth-seeded Minnesota 3-1.

While the positive result was one to celebrate, it wasn’t the only victory for the Cats as senior Emma Grome also broke Kentucky’s all time assist record, playing in her final match in Historic Memorial Coliseum. 

In the fourth and final set, Grome recorded her 51st assist with a pass to Brooklyn DeLeye, breaking the record originally held by Madison Lilley, who is the current assist coach for Kentucky and had 50 assists. 

“It’s just been incredible. I mean, it really hit me today. I honestly didn’t realize until someone said it to me earlier that today was my last game in Memorial ever,” Grome said in regards to breaking the record. “I mean, I got kind of emotional and sad, but my four years here have been absolutely incredible.”

With the win, Kentucky will move forward into the NCAA Regional Semifinals next weekend.

“I think we’re just not expecting that next day to happen. I think we just play one day at a time,” DeLeye said in regards to getting back to the Regional Semifinals. “I think we have such a huge senior class, and we are just playing for them as well because any game could be their last, and we obviously want to go as far as we can and get to that championship court.”

Offensively, the Cats put up some impressive numbers. DeLeye had 22 kills on 49 swings, Erin Lamb had 13 kills on 28 swings and Megan Wilson had 11 kills on 27 swings. Jordyn Dailey was also errorless on kills while Brooke Bultema tallied eight terminations.

Bultema also had a good night on defense, setting a new career-high of seven blocks and a dig that led to 12 points for Kentucky. 

Kentucky will return to action to face No. 7 Missouri in Pittsburgh on Thursday, Dec. 12. First serve against a familiar SEC foe is scheduled for 1 p.m. ET and will air live on ESPN2.