No. 1 Kentucky volleyball advanced to the second round of the 2025 NCAA Volleyball Tournament Thursday night with a clean, 3-0 (25-11, 25-19, 25-12) sweep of Wofford at Memorial Coliseum.
“(Wofford plays) a brand of volleyball that’s very difficult to play against,” UK head coach Craig Skinner said. “But pleased with our offensive progression through that match today. Our defense was really good for the whole time, mostly. I know (Molly) Tuozzo was feeling it out there. I think she had about 15 digs in the first set.”
Tuozzo, Skinner’s impressive junior libero, had actually totaled just nine digs in the first set, but finished with 19 of the Wildcats’ program-record-breaking 66 digs across three sets.
“I think it just all comes down to scouting and preparation,” Tuozzo said. “I think we watched their hitters a lot beforehand, so we knew kind of their hard shots and what they like to do.”
Junior outside hitter Brooklyn DeLeye finished with 11 digs on the night. She also recorded a match-high 14 kills, and said that, regardless of the Wildcats’ No. 1 seed, the Terriers brought the competition for the entire match.
“Props to Wofford,” DeLeye said. “Because they had some strong hitters, and I think we had to respond. So I think everybody, from a defensive standpoint, had to step up. And I think we didn’t know what was coming at us. I mean, yes, the scouting report was good, but you can’t really prepare (for) what a game’s actually going to be like. So I think they were coming at us with full forces, and I think we just had to fight back even harder.”
The Wildcats blitzed the Terriers in the first set, but Wofford’s second-set resilience ensured that Kentucky wouldn’t easily achieve its 15th sweep of the year.
Due to injuries sustained throughout this season, the Terriers didn’t bring a lot of depth with them to Lexington. Because of that, head coach Lynze Roos said, there wasn’t much room to make adjustments.
“We talked a lot about just playing relentless defense and going for every single ball,” junior libero Laney Klika said. “We knew that tonight was going to be a tough task, but you never know unless you go for it. And I’m just really proud of our back line for just going for it.”
Wofford College’s enrollment is just shy of 1,900 students, and on Friday night, the Terriers played their best volleyball in front of a reported crowd of 3,572 fans. Big Blue Nation was engaged from start to finish, and Roos complimented the raucous environment.
“I think the atmosphere is outstanding,” Roos said. “They’re great fans, and being down on the floor like that, I think they won a couple points for the team. And I feel like we adjusted to that, came back out in the second set, I think, with a renewed focus and kind of what we expected. And I love the way that we battled.”
Wofford recorded 54 digs in the match, and Klika led the way for the Terriers with 13. The SoCon champions hit a match-high .191 in the second set.
Kentucky’s defense held the Terriers to .048 in the first set and .065 in the third. The UK offense hit .231 in the first set, .256 in the second and .438 in the third.
The Wildcats will next face No. 8 UCLA, which defeated Georgia Tech 3-2 (24-26, 25-19, 23-25, 25-18, 15-10) ahead of UK’s victory over the Terriers. The Second-Round match between UK and UCLA will tip off at 7 p.m. Friday at Memorial Coliseum.
“I mean, watching (UCLA), they’re an amazing team,” Tuozzo said. “I think they have a lot of grit within their team, so it’s going to be a good match regardless. And I think we just have to come out, or come out guns blazing and ready for a big fight.”
Caroline Makauskas
Lexington Herald-Leader
Caroline Makauskas is a sports reporter for the Lexington Herald-Leader. She covers Kentucky women’s basketball and other sports around Central Kentucky. Born and raised in Illinois, Caroline graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with degrees in Journalism and Radio/Television/Film in May 2020.
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