Kentucky volleyball earned the No. 8 seed overall seed in the NCAA Tournament during Sunday’s NCAA Tournament Selection show, with the team hoping to bring a second national championship back to Lexington.
The Wildcats finished the 2023 regular season 19-7 and ended the year on a 16-match winning streak. Kentucky also earned the outright SEC championship, which marked the seventh consecutive championship for the program.
“Obviously you lose, you’re done, so I think we’re just taking it day by day,” freshman Brooklyn DeLeye said about the pressures of keeping the streak alive in postseason play.
The Wildcat roster is riddled with SEC award winners including Emma Grome, Eleanor Beavin, Reagan Rutherford, Azhani Tealer and DeLeye, who were all named to the All-SEC Team.
DeLeye and Molly Tuozzo were named to the SEC All Freshman Team and DeLeye was named the SEC Freshman of the Year. Head coach Craig Skinner also earned the award of being named co-SEC Coach of the Year.
Looking at the bracket, Kentucky earned the No. 2 seed in the upper left side of the bracket, with its first match being against the Wofford Terriers, which are making their NCAA Tournament debut.
“We are excited to get going and begin our third season of the year,” Skinner said.
SEC foes No. 3 Arkansas, No. 4 Florida and No. 8 Missouri also join Kentucky in the upper left side of the bracket. Tennessee, Auburn and Texas A&M will also represent the SEC in the NCAA Tournament.
Kentucky swept all its SEC opponents outside of Tennessee, splitting the series with the Vols.
Outside of the SEC, the Wildcats have also met six other teams in the Tournament.
These teams include Louisville, Nebraska, Western Kentucky, Pittsburgh, Houston and Purdue.
Kentucky faced WKU in an exhibition that it won and also defeated Houston in non conference play.
Louisville, Purdue and Nebraska all defeated the Wildcats in the lone matches the teams played this season and Pittsburgh got the best of the Wildcats in back-to-back games during the non-conference part of the schedule.
The results boil down to an overall record of 13-6 against NCAA-Tournament-level opposition.
Focusing back on the first round matchup, the Terriers finished the season 23-7 and won the Southern Conference Championship.
The Wildcats and the Terriers are strangers to one another, with no head-to-head matchups and no common foes this season.
Both teams come into the game on winning streaks as the Wildcats have won 16 straight and the Terriers have won eight straight matches.
If the Wildcats are able to defeat the Terriers, they will face the winner of No. 7 James Madison and Baylor.
James Madison enters the match with a 21-9 record while Baylor has a 16-12 record.
If the Cats can advance to the round of 16, they will face the remaining team out of No. 3 Arkansas, Stephen F. Austin, TCU and No. 6 Florida State in Nebraska.
An Elite Eight matchup could include facing No. 5 Georgia Tech, No. 4 Florida, No. 8 Missouri and possibly even a clash against No. 1 Nebraska, which hosts the regional round.
The Wildcats did not meet Georgia Tech during the regular season, but early in the non conference schedule Nebraska defeated the Wildcats 3-1 in Lincoln.
“We were still figuring things out as a team and I think we’ve gotten so much better since then and I think we are going to be really prepared this next time,” DeLeye said about a possible Nebraska rematch.
Kentucky will certainly have experience to mix with its young talent as it still has players that were on the national championship winning 2020 team.
“Each time you step on the floor you’re going to get everyone’s best shot and everyone knows who Kentucky is,” Skinner said.
The first match at Rupp Arena will be James Madison against Baylor at 4:30 ET on Thursday, Nov. 30. Kentucky against Wofford will follow that match and is currently scheduled for 7:30 ET. Both matches will be aired on ESPN Plus.
