Hudson, DeLeye Lead No. 2 Kentucky Past No. 3 Texas in Statement Sweep

As is the case in most sports, having a home court advantage is an incredibly valuable asset to have when trying to win big games against elite competition. While true road games seem to be difficult pitfalls for most teams in the college volleyball landscape, that doesn't seem to be the case with this year's Kentucky Wildcats. And that trend continued again on Sunday, as No. 3 Kentucky traveled to Austin, Tx and swept aside No. 2 Texas (25-14, 28-26, 27-25) inside Gregory Gymnasium to remain alone atop the Southeastern Conference and hand the Longhorns their second-consecutive loss. 

Heading into the match, the Longhorns had an impressive nine ranked wins on the season with five of those coming against Top Ten competition. Getting out of Austin with a win was going to take a Herculean effort on the offensive end against a Texas team hungry to avenge its lone loss of the season coming in a five-setter against No. 9 Texas A&M on Friday. 

But this Kentucky team has embraced challenge all season long, led by a senior in Eva Hudson who seems to thrive on the biggest stages the sport has to offer. Prior to Sunday's heavyweight fight, Texas and Kentucky boasted two of the best offenses in the country, ranking one and two respectively in both assists per set and kills per set. 

That proved true against the Longhorns as the Cats asserted themselves on the offensive end, racing out to a 25-14 set one victory thanks to 16 team kills with zero errors on a sweltering .571 clip. As they have for the entirety of the season, that offense was paced by the dynamic duo of Eva Hudson and Brooklyn DeLeye. Hudson tallied a match-high 20 kills on a .452 clip and DeLeye added 18 terminations on a .417 clip. The two upperclassmen totaled just four errors between them despite the Longhorns consistently sending two blockers their way all match long.

It wasn't just DeLeye and Hudson who had success, though, as sophomore Kennedy Washington continued her impressive play of late by adding six kills on nine swings while hitting .556 on the afternoon. Her ability to score both in the middle and on the right pin proved critical in keeping the Texas defense honest when the match got tight. Rounding out the scoring was Lizzie Carr with four kills, Asia Thigpen had three, and setter Kassie O'Brien had one. 

O'Brien continued to bolster her case for the SEC Freshman of the Year Award as she directed the Kentucky attack to 52 total kills on .353 hitting. The true freshman dished out a match-high 43 assists and led the back line defensively with 11 digs. She also added two blocks to round out one of her most impressive all-around efforts of the season.

Hudson added ten digs of her own, DeLeye had nine, and Molly Tuozzo picked up six as the Longhorns made a concerted effort to keep the ball away from Tuozzo's stellar defense as much as possible. But the junior libero proved determined to make her mark on the box score as she dished out four assists and served a match-high three service aces in the winning effort. 

With the win, Kentucky improves to 18-2 on the season and 11-0 in the SEC to remain in first place atop the league a game ahead of Texas A&M. Kentucky has five Top Ten wins on the season now with four of those coming in true road environments. The victory also extends the Cats' winning streak to a season-best 15-straight wins with the home stretch of the regular season looming. Next up, Kentucky will travel to Columbia, Missouri for a matchup with the Tigers inside the Hearnes Center. First serve is set for 7:00 pm ET and will be broadcast live on SEC Network+.