No. 1 seeded Kentucky volleyball (23-2, 15-0 SEC) can now look forward to seeing action in the semifinals of the SEC Tournament after a quarterfinal sweep against No. 8 seeded Auburn (17-11, 7-8) 3-0. The match saw complete domination from the Wildcats, with Auburn only posing a real threat in the third set, where Kentucky prevailed 25-22. In every aspect of the game, it’s easy to discern that Kentucky has set a strong precedent for the run they will take in the tournament. Here are three key takeaways from the match against Auburn that summarize Kentucky’s strong showing. Eva Hudson unsparingly fuels offensive attack- Senior Eva Hudson has been no stranger to headlines this season for Kentucky, and her practically perfect performance against Auburn has been the leading story out of Sunday’s match. Hudson finished with a 13-kill, no-error performance against the Tigers. With four terminations in the opening set, she aided in giving Kentucky multiple scoring runs, including a 5-0 that drew Auburn to call a time out, and was a cornerstone to the offensive performance. Freshman Kassie O’Brien has also been instrumental this entire season, and was huge against the Tigers. O’Brien currently ranks No. 14 in the NCAA for assists per set at 10. 54, pairing with her total 875 assists on the season. Against Auburn, O’Brien finished with 42 assists to round out at 14 assists per set in the match. Leading the kill count on the afternoon was junior Brooklyn DeLeye with 15, followed by Hudson and then redshirt junior Lizzie Carr, who put up eight terminations. The team hitting percentage ended in 0. 349, with 106 total attack attempts. Kentucky’s dominate defense- Kentucky and its ability to defensively excel, especially in generating digs, was completely apparent against Auburn. O’Brien and libero Molly Tuozzo both lead the team in digs, with 10 apiece. Coming in second was Molly Berezowitz with nine, followed by Hudson with eight and DeLeye with seven. The Cats also finished the game with six total blocks which beat out Auburn although being named as the best in the SEC statistically in blocking. Kennedy Washington and O’Brien lead amongst both teams in involvement in blocks, with three each, followed by Asia Thigpen and Carr with two apiece. Kentucky’s defense is not only sustained by its defensive specialists, but also gets its hitters in on the action to help sustain gameplay and depth. Against Auburn, the team limited the Tigers to only garnering a 0. 168 hitting percentage. Leading the Tigers in kills was Liz Markovska with 12 yet she only achieved a 0. 086 hit percentage. Craig Skinner finally has won a match in the SEC Tournament- The SEC Tournament has not been held since 2005, which also happened to be Kentucky Head Coach Craig Skinner’s inaugural season with the Wildcats since being named head coach in 2004. In that first, and only, game of the SEC Tournament 20 years ago, Kentucky fell to Arkansas. Now on par with the record that the 2025 SEC Coach of the Year holds during his tenure, which includes six other SEC Coach of the Year titles, Skinner can round out his resume with an SEC Tournament win. It should be easy to ascertain that Skinner will get his second, and maybe even third tournament wins paired with a championship title to round out his 21st year with the Wildcats. During Sunday’s match, the head coach looks as confident as ever as he sat (yes, sat) on the sideline that his team has every ability to make it far in the tournament. Only time will tell if Kentucky volleyball will be the team to win the tournament after its 20 year hiatus. Kentucky’s next showing will be against No. 4 seeded Tennessee on Monday, Nov. 24 to compete for a spot in the finals. The match is set to start at 6 p. m. EST.
https://kykernel.com/120633/sports/three-takeaways-from-kentucky-volleyballs-sec-tournament-quarterfinals-sweep-over-auburn/
