Kentucky wins outright 2024 SEC Championship with 3-1 win – UK Athletics

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Winning 17 of the match’s final 21 points in the fourth set, down by as many as six points, beat the No. 12 Kentucky Volleyball team Missouri 3-1 (25-19, 25-14, 23-25, 25-20) to win the outright 2024 Southeastern Conference championship and secure the SEC’s automatic qualifying spot for the 2024 NCAA Tournament.

Kentucky has now won eight straight SEC championships, with five of the eight being outright titles. Wildcats head coach Craig Skinner also won his 300th career SEC match Wednesday night, adding to his spot as the winningest head coach in Kentucky Volleyball history.

The Wildcats easily won the first two sets, taking set one 25-19 and set two, 25-14, before the Tigers turned up the service pressure to make things interesting in the third set. Kentucky trailed by as many as seven points in the fourth set, but rallied to close the set to within two thanks to Brooklyn DeLeye’s match-high 19 kills. Missouri took the third set and all eyes on the fourth.

Mizzou won the first three points of the fourth set with a kill on an extended rally in the opening point and two service aces. The lead ballooned to five points to make it a 10-5 lead for Mizzou, and Kentucky had to call an early timeout trailing by five. After another offensive error, Kentucky’s 15th of the match and fourth of the set alone, UK called a timeout trailing 16-10. Brooklyn DeLeye then went on a 5-0 service run to bring Kentucky within a point, and UK then won 17 of the final 21 points of the match to take the fourth set, 25-20 to win the match on a kill by Jordyn Dailey with the assist coming from Emma Grome. The Wildcats trailed by as many as six points in the set, but rallied to recover and win the set to take the match and win the outright Southeastern Conference Championship.

The 2024 NCAA Volleyball Selection Show will take place Sunday night at 6 p.m. ET on ESPN, with Courtney Lyle, Holly McPeak and Katie George revealing the 64-team bracket. The top-16 seeded teams in the bracket will host the NCAA’s first and second rounds next weekend at campus sites. Kentucky currently in the metrics the selection committee uses to evaluate teams is No. 10 in RPI, no. 11 in CPI, no. 5 by virtue of schedule and no. 1 in opponent strength.

Kentucky finishes the 2024 regular season with a 20-7 record and ends its SEC season 14-2 after winning 11 straight games to end the season.

Put one

In a closely contested first set, Kentucky’s Brooklyn DeLeye capitalized on her lethal serve to build Kentucky out of a 14-12 hole to push UK into a 15-14 lead at the media timeout after a sideout and back-to-back aces hit the floor. Ava Sarafa then took over with tremendous service pressure that pushed Kentucky into an 18-15 lead after a kill by Brooklyn DeLeye and an attack error by the Tigers as Mizzou called its first timeout down three points. A triple block by Emma Grome, Jordyn Dailey and Brooke Bultema boosted Kentucky’s lead to a set-high five points at 22-16, and Missouri called its final timeout a point later on Jordyn Dailey’s third kill of the set. Dailey’s fourth kill of the set on her fourth swing of the set gave Kentucky the opening set as the Wildcats took a set to none lead over the Tigers. UK hit .345 for the set with five kills and no errors from Brooklyn DeLeye as she hit .714 individually and chipped in three aces and a dig.

Set two

It was another Brooklyn DeLeye service run that pushed Kentucky ahead midway through the second set as her fourth ace of the afternoon lifted Kentucky to a 15-9 advantage at the media timeout, UK’s largest lead of the set to that point. . UK at that point in the set was hitting .500 with 10 kills and just 1 error with DeLeye just a single kill in double figures and Emma Grome dishing out 25 assists on all 25 of Kentucky’s kills to that point in the match. Jordyn Dailey’s third block of the night pushed the lead to eight as the Wildcats used Sarafa’s service pressure again to continue her run to create separation and UK pushed Mizzou into a timeout down eight on her serve. Megan Wilson turned up the heat late in the second set when her fourth kill of the match gave Kentucky a 21-12 lead with a finish down the line and Missouri elected to call its final timeout. Wilson’s first ace of the match and Kentucky’s fifth as a team gave the Wildcats the second set as UK took a two-sets-to-none lead with a 25-14 second-set victory. UK hit a dazzling .452 in the second set with 15 kills to just three errors as the Wildcats held MU to just .103 offensively and nine kills to six errors for the Tigers.

Set three

Missouri raced out to a 13-7 lead, its largest lead of any set to that point in the game, and Kentucky had to call its first timeout with the Tigers ahead by half a dozen. After Missouri won the point out of the break, Kentucky got an ace from Molly Tuozzo off a sideout to cut the lead to 14-9 to begin chipping away at the Mizzou lead. An ace from Eleanor Beavin cut the lead to 19-16 as the three-point deficit was the closest UK had been since trailing 10-7 earlier in the set. After a sensational play by Molly Tuozzo in the middle of the court, Kentucky again pulled within three at 21-18, and Mizzou burned its first timeout four points from the goal line of the set. Kentucky got within a point at 21-20 and 22-21, but an attack error pushed the Tigers to 23-21 and the Wildcats called their final timeout of the set with Mizzou two points away. Mizzou closed out the set on its second set point to extend the match with a 25-23 third set victory.

Set four

Mizzou won the first three points of the fourth set with a kill on an extended rally in the opening point and two service aces. The lead ballooned to five points to make it a 10-5 lead for Mizzou, and Kentucky had to call an early timeout trailing by five. After another offense error, Kentucky’s 15th of the match and fourth of the set alone, UK called a timeout trailing 16-10. Brooklyn DeLeye then went on a 5-0 service run to bring Kentucky within a point, and UK then won 17 of the final 21 points of the match to take the fourth set, 25-20 to win the match on a kill by Jordyn Dailey with the assist coming from Emma Grome. The Wildcats trailed by as many as six points in the set, but rallied to recover and win the set to take the match and win the outright Southeastern Conference Championship.

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