No. 1 seed Kentucky volleyball (26-2, 15-0 SEC) defeats Wofford (17-14, 10-6 SoCon) in first round of the 2025 NCAA tournament.

Kentucky ran away with set one 25-11. Wofford put up more of a fight in set two before the Cats rallied to win set two 25-19. Kentucky completed the sweep with a 25-12 set three win.

The Cats recorded 45 kills with a .298% hitting percentage. Brooklyn DeLeye led this effort with 14 kills at a .419% clip, Eva Hudson supported with nine kills of her own.

Wofford was held to a hitting percentage of .075%, and recorded 18 errors in the match.

Kassie O’Brien recorded a double-double in the first NCAA Tournament game of her career, tallying 40 assists and 12 digs. She assisted on all but five of Kentucky’s kills.

The Wildcats have earned the right host every match at Historic Memorial Coliseum in the NCAA Volleyball Tournament, until the Final Four.

Kentucky improves to 2-0 against Wofford with both matchups coming in the NCAA Tournament first round. Kentucky won in a 3-0 sweep on Nov. 30, 2023, in the last meeting.

Set One

Wofford capitalized on some Kentucky errors early and trailed 4-3.

Kentucky cleaned up its play and mounted a 9-3 run to pull ahead 13-6. Wofford called its first timeout of set one after two consecutive errors.

The Terriers came out of the timeout with a 2-0 run, but Kentucky responded with a 4-0 run to pull ahead 18-7 and force another Wofford Timeout.

Wofford put together a 2-1 run out of the timeout, but once again Kentucky responded dominantly.

The Wildcats used a 7-1 run to close out set one 25-11.

Wofford struggled mightily in the first set, hitting 0.048% and committing 10 errors total. The Terriers did provide some resistance at the net with three blocks in the set, but it wasn’t enough.

The Wildcats recorded 14 kills in set one, hitting .231%. Hudson led the team with five, Lizzie Carr and DeLeye each had three.

O’Brien assisted on 13 of the Wildcats 14 kills.

Set Two

Wofford seemed to settle in early in the second set. The two teams traded rallies until Wofford picked up its first lead of the match at 5-4.

The Terriers put together a 4-1 run to pull ahead 11-9, before the Wildcats evened the set at 12-12.

Wofford broke the tie with a 3-1 run, taking a 15-13 lead into the media timeout.

The Wildcats put together a 6-2 run following the media timeout, regaining the lead at 19-17 and forcing Wofford to call a timeout.

The Wildcats extended their lead to 22-19 and forced Wofford’s second timeout of the set.

Neither Wofford timeout slowed down Kentucky, as the Wildcats used a 5-0 run to win the set 25-19.

Wofford did a much better job of managing the Wildcats attack and limiting errors, this led to longer rallies and a closer set.

The Terriers hit .191%  with 14 kills in the set and committed just five errors.

Kentucky had 15 kills at a .256% clip. DeLeye led UK with six kills in the set.

Set Three

Wofford gained an early 2-0 lead before Kentucky mounted a 7-1 run in response.

Kentucky extended its lead to 10-4, forcing Wofford to take an early timeout.

The Cats continued to build its early lead with a 3-0 run out of the timeout.

Wofford called its second timeout of the set after Kentucky grew its lead to 18-9 with a 4-1 run.

Kentucky continued its momentum through the timeout and completed the sweep with a 25-12 win in set three.

Set three was the Wildcats most effective in the match, hitting .438% with just two errors in the set.

The Wildcats will be back in Historic Memorial Coliseum Friday, Dec. 7, at 7 p.m. to take on No. 8 seed UCLA in the second round of the 2025 NCAA Volleyball Tournament.