No. 23 Kentucky Volleyball (4-7) won in five sets in a thriller against unranked Georgia on Friday inside the Ramsey Student Center in Athens, Georgia.
The win came in big part thanks to a career night from Brooklyn DeLeye.
The match marked Kentucky’s second win in SEC play with it also being the first on the road.
DeLeye, a freshman, recorded a career-high 25 kills to go along with 12 digs while Eleanor Beavin added a game-high 17 digs in the win.
The first set would be a nailbiter, with neither team leading by more than three at any point in the set.
It would start with a 3-1 Georgia run that was highlighted by an ace before the Cats would respond and eventually tie the set 6-6 after an ace of their own by junior Emma Grome. Kentucky then took the lead on a kill from Azhani Tealer, making it 7-6.
Both teams would repeatedly trade blows, at one point even trading service errors, something that would become a theme for the rest of the match. Despite strong offensive efforts from DeLeye and Molly Tuozo, the Cats would find themselves trailing Georgia 20-18, forcing a timeout.
Out of the timeout the Cats would go on a 5-1 run led by DeLeye, forcing Georgia to use its final timeout with Kentucky leading 23-21. Georgia would fight back, but Kentucky would hang on to win the set 25-23.
UK was dominant to start the second set with multiple kills by Deleye early as well as three consecutive service aces by Audrey Whitworth, which capped off the 6-0 run that led to a 9-2 lead.
Kentucky would keep up the assault, forcing Georgia to use its final timeout just halfway through the set, trailing 13-5.
Out of the timeout Georgia would keep pace with Kentucky and even cut the lead down to as little as five, but ultimately the Cats would pull away, finishing the set with a kill by junior Megan Wilson and an attacking error by Georgia, winning the set handily 25-16.
A dominant start for UK had it one set away from a clean sweep of Georgia, but the Bulldogs would hit the Cats right in the mouth early in the third set, reversing the momentum entirely with a 5-1 run and eventually taking the lead 6-2 after numerous errors by the Wildcats.
UK would try to fight back, only to find itself down 11-7 as the errors continued, forcing a timeout.
With the score at 16-9 UK reached nine service errors and had an attack percentage of zero-percent. Georgia would continue the assault and soon lead 24-19.
UK would then attempt an improbable comeback, cutting the lead down to just one after DeLeley took over the set. Unfortunately for the Cats, the comeback ended with yet another service error, giving Georgia the set win 25-23.
It would seem Kentucky had regrouped after a strong 4-1 start to the fourth set after yet another DeLeye kill, but this run was short lived as Georgia responded with a 5-0 run of its own, taking the lead 11-7 as both attacking and service errors continued to haunt UK.
With just two kills and four attack errors in the set UK needed a lifeline, but the Cats simply had no answers for Georgia as the Bulldogs ran away with the fourth set 25-19.
Down to the fifth and final set, the winner would only need 15 to come away victorious.
UK would yet again start with its wheels in the mud, trailing 7-3, but it would go on a 3-0 run to almost even the score before Kentucky’s 14th service error of the match ended the run.
Kentucky seemed dead in the water before the Cats began to surge offensively with kills by redshirt sophomore Jordyn Williams and DeLeye propelling them to a 3-0 run that would tie the set 8-8.
With the score even, both teams began to trade haymakers like boxers at the end of a match, looking for the kill-shot.
With both teams looking dead even, DeLeye became the difference maker for UK and put her team up 13-12 with her 25th kill.
With the game on the line, senior Elise Goetzinger would hit the game winning service ace to propel the Cats to a 15-13 win in the dying moments of the match.
With the win UK improved to 4-7.
UK continues its road trip Sunday, as it travels to Tuscaloosa to take on another conference opponent, the unranked Alabama Crimson Tide, at 2 p.m. ET in Foster Auditorium.
