No. 3 Kentucky (17-2, 10-0 SEC) defeated Vanderbilt (5-15, 1-10 SEC) in three short sets continuing its remarkable win streak.
Brooklyn DeLeye continued to dominate the outside perimeter leading the Wildcats with 16 kills and 35 total attempts.
DeLeye, a junior, has been a factor all season and has been a key part of their current winning streak.
Currently, her season high so far in the kills category is 24, which was against rival Louisville dated back in September.
Since then, the outside hitter has been slowly crawling back to her potential while having seven games with 15 or more kills.
The attacking percentage from DeLeye has been decent as well, sitting at .287% on the year and producing a .257% in the win over Vanderbilt.
On the offensive side of the game, the heavy pressure kept growing stronger for the Wildcats as Molly Touzzo and Kassie O’Brien helped out significantly more on the defensive end.
“It’s pretty easy when we have girls like Molly Tuozzo digging every ball, so we wanted to show our defense that they weren’t doing it for nothing and that we needed to put balls away,” DeLeye said. “Kassie did a great job distributing it tonight, so I think all around our offense was great tonight.”
Kassie O’ Brien, the freshman setter, was another impactful player that contributed to the win for the Wildcats.
Recently earning a SEC Player of the Week award and recording 50 assists in her previous match against Alabama, she’s been a reliable player for Head Coach Craig Skinner’s depth chart.
O’ Brien helped heavily with 37 assists during the process of point production that came raining down throughout each set.
Vanderbilt struggled hard to find its stride the entire match. Featuring 21 errors on the attacking end, and tallying an attack percentage of .108%, it was a long night for the Commodores defensively and offensively.
With the Wildcats taking a trip to Austin to face the Texas Longhorns, it’s a challenging upcoming match that will test their all-around consistency. The match will also be important for them to maintain the momentum they have built to finish the regular season on a positive note.
“I think we need to expect Texas’ best, great environment down there, we got to go all out, all in,” Skinner said. “I know our players are looking forward to the challenge, and they’ll be back and forth all night, and we’ve really enjoyed the opportunity to play in those matches.”
The Wildcats will travel to Austin to face the Longhorns on Sunday, Nov. 2, which will be aired on ESPN, for a highly anticipated conference match for the SEC standings.
