After winning its ninth straight SEC regular season championship as well as the SEC Tournament title, Kentucky volleyball earned a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
The Wildcats have now qualified for 21 consecutive NCAA Tournaments, solidifying the program as one of the most consistent powerhouses in college volleyball. As the top seed, Kentucky will have the advantage of playing at Historic Memorial Coliseum throughout its NCAA run, up until the Final Four, as long as the team continues to advance.
The Cats had a great regular season, going 25-2 overall, while going undefeated in SEC play with a record of 15-0. This team’s success helped star senior Eva Hudson win SEC Player of the Year, and Head Coach Craig Skinner win SEC Coach of the Year.
Kentucky played one of the most difficult schedules in the country, playing eight top 10 teams, and finished 6-2 against the best of the best.
With all the regular-season success, Kentucky is trying to win it all for the first time since 2020. In the first round, Kentucky will take on Wofford on Thursday, Dec. 4.
Wofford
Wofford received an automatic bid into the NCAA Volleyball Tournament after capturing the 2025 Southern Conference Tournament on Nov. 23.
The Terriers are 17-13 on the season and had a record of 10-6 in Southern Conference play.
In Wofford’s non-conference schedule, they played three SEC teams in Tennessee, Ole Miss and South Carolina, and lost all three matches, only winning one set combined.
Wofford, just like Kentucky, has an amazing libero in junior Laney Klika. Klika had 530 digs on the season and also had 111 assists, which helped Kilka win SoCon Libero of the Year.
Sophomore Bradley Brown was a big part of the Terriers’ success, making first-team all-conference. Brown had 269 kills and 96 blocks.
If Kentucky defeats Wofford, it will take on the winner of Georgia Tech against UCLA.
UCLA
UCLA is the No. 8 seed in the NCAA tournament, but unlike Wofford, it didn’t need to win its conference to get in. UCLA finished the regular season going 18-12 with a Big Ten record of 12-8. UCLA played a really difficult schedule, playing 10 ranked games in the regular season, going 3-7 in those games. UCLA finished its season strong, winning four of its last five games to end the season.
The Bruins are led by senior outside hitter Cheridyn Leverette, who leads the team with 429 kills and averages 3.83 kills per set.
Setter Kate Duffey has had a really good season, having 993 assists and leading the team with 26 service aces.
Georgia Tech
Georgia Tech went 16-13 with an ACC record of 11-9. Georgia Tech came into the season ranked No. 22. They started the year 4-0, including a win at No. 17 Purdue. After that, the Yellow Jackets haven’t beaten a ranked opponent the rest of the year, going 0-10 in those games.
Overall, Georgia Tech is a very spread-out attack with four players over 200 kills, with no player having more than 290 kills.
Freshman outside hitter Lameen Mambu leads the team with 290 kills, also adding 47 blocks.
Kentucky will play at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 4, against Wofford as it starts its road to Kansas City.
