Inside the Coaches' Room: Molly' Tuozzo's Next Steps for Growth

The best high level athletes, regardless of level of play or sport, are consistently finding new ways to learn and improve. And from a coaching standpoint, finding athletes that are willing to be coached and who have that innate desire to continually challenge themselves is like winning the lottery. Throughout his time at Kentucky, UK head coach Craig Skinner has brought those exact kind of athletes to Kentucky. And as a result, each one of them has left Lexington a far better player than they were when they first stepped foot onto campus. 

In light of that, we're going to do a new series here at VB Adrenaline where we speak with the coaching staff and analyze the areas of each rostered player's game that they hope to see the most improvement with throughout the 2025 college volleyball season. Hopefully, this will give fans an inside scoop on some of the more specific details of each individual's game and allow fans to follow improvement throughout the season. First up, we're starting with the centerpiece of Kentucky's defense and one of the most athletic members of the team- junior libero Molly Tuozzo. 

From the moment she stepped foot on campus, Tuozzo has had a massive impact on the team. As a freshman, she challenged Eleanor Beavin, who had started at libero for two years already, every day as she competed for that libero jersey. While Beavin kept it during Tuozzo's freshman campaign, the on-court experience that Molly gained as a defensive specialist proved invaluable to her future role on the team.

As a sophomore, Tuozzo actually won that libero jersey for the Cats as Beavin transitioned out of the anchor position into a reserve defensive specialist. But while Tuozzo was the one wearing the jersey, she still spent the year learning and growing from Beavin on how to lead a defense, both in terms of play on the court and ability to communicate in real time.

Heading into her junior season, the Cats have high expectations for their libero, as Tuozzo's athleticism and speed continue to shine on the court. The coaching staff spent a lot of time last year working on what they called the "unconventional" digs- the digs that likely have no business actually being made. Their goal was simple- regardless of how it looks, how can we put ourselves in position to make a dig on the ball, even if it's one that seems completely unlikely to happen? And that task was given to Tuozzo because, in large part, her athleticism and speed make her one of only a few liberos in the country capable of making those types of digs.

"Molly's athleticism and ability to read the game has been really fun to work with and incredible," assistant coach Merideth Frey said. "I think the biggest leaps and bounds we made this past year was just unconventional digs- How crazy can we look and the ball still be up and that's the only thing that matters? I tell her all the time, 'It doesn't need to look cute, it doesn't need to look pretty, who cares? As long as it's up we live to see another day.' So we spent a lot of time the past year working on those unconventional digging moves." 

And to her credit, Tuozzo did a phenomenal job with that last season, leading Kentucky's back line with 3.84 digs per set and, more often than not, making at least one play or dig per match that made fans get up out of their seat. This season, however, Frey says that the coaching staff is challenging her to become more creative with her setting when she's forced to take the ball on second contact if the setter is out of play, reminiscent of how Beavin played during Molly's freshman year. That season, the Cats had Reagan Rutherford on the right pin and Brooklyn DeLeye on the left, a combination of hitters that gave opposing defenses fits when trying to defend. A large part of that success came from Beavin's ability to make sets in tempo to both the left and right pins when in transition, rather than simply sending every out of system ball over to Brooklyn on the left side. Especially now with two of the best outside hitters in the country, the Cats want Molly to get comfortable setting different kinds of balls to different positions on the court to keep opposing blockers off balance. 

"Maybe run a couple of slides or dogs to the middle from her, run more right side stuff that has some tempo to it... You have to understand every team is going to be like, 'Oh they have two outsides that are ridiculous.' So any time the ball is out of system I would assume that people are just going to camp out over there. So can we eliminate them camping out if we can have effective sets in tempo to other people where now they're one on one, at least a couple of times. Now you've gotta respect it all, you can't just step one way or step the other."

With two offensive juggernauts like DeLeye and Eva Hudson on the left, it would be tempting to send every ball that way and tell them to find a kill. But as Frey said, that's likely where opposing teams will be setting their defenses to either stop or at least slow down the arms of two of Kentucky's biggest hitters. If Molly can find ways to get others involved out of system when Ava Sarafa or Kassie O'Brien are out of the play, it makes Kentucky's offense that much more dynamic, something that's been a staple on Skinner's best teams. 

It seems counter-intuitive, but a large part of the Cats' success offensively will fall on the shoulders of their defensive anchor, whether that means flying all over the court to get the ball up and playable, or stepping into that second contact and setting a ball in tempo to other places on the court than what would be expected. The good news for Kentucky fans? Molly Tuozzo is just the kind of athlete capable of stepping up to the plate.