Senior transfer from Purdue, Eva Hudson stood out with 25 kills in No. 3 Kentucky volleyball’s (13-2, 6-0 SEC) four-set 3-1 win over Auburn (13-5, 4-3 SEC).
Throughout the match, Hudson capitalized on big plays for Kentucky.
In the first set, a tip by Hudson over the attempted Auburn block after a long and intense rally hit the floor as Historic Memorial Coliseum erupted and Kentucky led 5-3.
Again, after another long rally Hudson soared in from the back row, hammering the ball down on Auburn’s side, improving the Cats lead to 8-5.
She later was set up by Auburn’s back row on an overpass, where she nailed the ball right down on Auburn’s setter Shanelle Puetz, putting the Cats up 14-8.
A powerful solo block from sophomore Jordyn Dailey closed out the first set for the Wildcats, 25-20.
Hudson had herself a second set as she fought to keep the Wildcats ahead of the Tigers. When the Wildcats were starting to fall into a hole, Hudson came through with a big kill, inching the Wildcats to a deficit of 6-3.
“One big thing we’ve really been working on in practice is communication and especially in the in-system and gritty plays, communication is what makes the difference between winning and losing,” Hudson said.
She then doubled down on that kill and had herself another one, catching the Wildcats up to the Tigers 8-5.
Later in the second set, junior Lizzie Carr went up for a block alongside Hudson, closing the score gap 14-13. However, that wasn’t enough for the Wildcats as they dropped the second set, 25-18.
To open set three, back-to-back SEC Freshman of the Week Kassie O’Brien set up Hudson with a perfect assist putting the Cats up, 4-2.
“She has a bad practice and she’s after practice doing more reps… but she’s been amazing. Always has a great attitude and we couldn’t be more grateful for her,” Hudson said about freshman setter O’Brien.
That same duo struck again a few points later giving the Cats a lead of 6-3. Hudson was later assisted by junior libero Molly Tuozzo to put the Cats up 18-13.
A monster block by sophomore Brooke Bultema gave the Wildcats the third set dub 25-22.
To finish out the match, sophomore Asia Thigpen opened the fourth set and put the Cats on the board, tying the set at 1-1. Hudson, hungry for a kill, was again set up by O’Brien pushing the score to 6-6. Two plays later Hudson and O’Brien struck again, the scoreboard reading 7-7.
To push the Cats up with a score of 10-8, Hudson aced the Tigers defense. Hudson later had once again another big kill for the Wildcats as they pulled ahead 16-12. The O’Brien/Hudson duo continued to strike late in the fourth set pushing the Cats lead up by five with a score of 20-15.
A kill from junior Brooklyn DeLeye closed out the fourth set and the match for the Wildcats, 25-16.
“It’s cool to always be able to hear them. Kind of like no matter what the state of the game is, they’re always cheering so like even in the second set when were we down, we weren’t at our strongest, I think that we could still hear them, and that’s kind of like a big external motivator,” Carr said.
Kentucky’s win streak improved to 10 with the win over the Tigers.
