With the 2025 SEC volleyball regular season in the books, it’s time for SEC awards and Kentucky volleyball was honored with four yearly awards and had five selections to all-conference teams.
All-SEC Teams
Brooklyn DeLeye, Eva Hudson and Kassie O’Brien were selected to the All-SEC First Team. Molly Tuozzo was named to the All-SEC Second Team. O’Brien was also named to the All-SEC Freshman Team.
This is DeLeye’s third consecutive season being named to an All-SEC Team. She averaged 4.66 kills per set, which ranked second in the conference and 11th in the country.
It is the first for Hudson and O’Brien as it’s their first year in the conference.
This is the second straight season that Tuozzo was named to the All-SEC Second Team.
Eva Hudson – SEC Player Of the Year, SEC Newcomer of the Year and All-SEC First Team
Hudson transferred to Kentucky from Purdue for her senior season. In the first three years of her career, she put together a decorated resume that made her one of the most prized portal additions in the nation.
She proved that hype to be well founded in the 2025 season. Hudson earned two different SEC Volleyball awards, both SEC Player of the Year and SEC Newcomer of the Year.
Hudson ranked 15th in the country with 4.76 kills per set, she recorded 10 or more kills in all 15 SEC Matches and 15 kills or more in 11 of them. She led the Wildcats with eight double-doubles.
Hudson set a program record for kills in a 3-set match with 28 kills against Washington. It was the first time any NCAA Volleyball player recorded 28 kills in a 3-set match since 2019.
Hudson was awarded with the AVCA National Player of the Week honors for the week of Nov. 4. She became the fifth player in program history to win the honors, and the first since Leah Edmond won it 2019.
She also won SEC Offensive Player of the Week three times this season and SEC Player of the Week once.
Hudson is the seventh Kentucky player to win SEC Player of the Year. Kentucky has produced the SEC Player of the Year in seven of the last eight years. Hudson joins DeLeye (2024), Emma Grome (2022), Alli Stumler (2021), Madison Lilley (2020), Edmond (2018, 2019) and Sarah Rumley (2008) as UK players to win the award.
She is the Wildcats first winner of SEC Newcomer of the Year, an award created in 2023 that celebrates the conference’s best new player.
Conference awards are nothing new for Hudson, She earned a long list of both national and conference awards in all three seasons at Purdue.
In 2022, Hudson’s freshman season, she was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Year and earned a spot on First Team All-Big Ten. She was also a unanimous addition to the Big Ten All-Freshman Team.
Hudson was selected for First Team All-Big Ten once again in 2023, she was also named to the AVCA All-American Second Team.
In her final season at Purdue, Hudson was named to the First Team All-Big Ten for the third consecutive season. She also made the AVCA All-American Second Team for the second time in 2024.
Kassie O’Brien – SEC Freshman of the Year, All-SEC First Team and All-SEC Freshman Team
O’Brien arrived on campus after an impressive high school career that she carried that over into her freshman season.
As the Wildcats setter, O’Brien ranked 15th in the country with 10.54 assists per set. In conference play she averaged 11.8 assists per set, which led the SEC.
O’Brien recorded seven double-doubles, the second most on the team.
This season O’Brien won SEC Freshman of the Week five times, SEC Setter of the Week four times and SEC Player of the Week once.
In the Wildcats sweep of Alabama on Oct. 26, O’Brien set the program record for assists in a 3-set match with 50.
O’Brien is the seventh player in UK history to be named as the SEC Freshman of the Year. She joined DeLeye, Grome, Stumler, Lilley, Edmond and Rumley.
Craig Skinner – SEC Coach of the Year
Kentucky volleyball Head Coach Craig Skinner has earned his seventh SEC Coach of the Year award and this marks his third straight season with the honor.
Under Skinner, the 2025 Wildcats wrapped up the regular season ranked second in the country with a record of 22-2. Kentucky also earned its ninth consecutive SEC regular season title after going 15-0 in conference play.
This was the second time Kentucky went undefeated in the SEC under Skinner, the first was in 2018.
The Wildcats have seen great success under the direction of Skinner, Kentucky has a record of 489-157 in his tenure. Kentucky has made the NCAA Tournament in every season with Skinner at the helm.
Skinner led Kentucky to its first ever National Championship in 2020, earning him the title of AVCA National Coach of the Year.
Kentucky has been ranked for 231 weeks in Skinners tenure, with 142 consecutive weeks dating back to Dec. 6, 2015.
The Wildcats are the No. 1 seed in the SEC tournament, earning them a two round bye. Kentucky’s next game will be on Sunday, Nov. 23, at Noon, the Cats will play the winner of Auburn and Arkansas/Oklahoma.
