No. 7 Kentucky Sweeps Past Lipscomb in Season Opener Saturday

Expectations for the 2025 season have been high for Kentucky fans as the Wildcats have seen a slew of talent make its way to Lexington in the offseason since we last saw the Cats take the court. And if Saturday was any indication it appears that those expectations were warranted, as No. 7 Kentucky swept aside Lipscomb inside Allen Arena in Nashville, Tn. to pick up its first win of the season.

She's done it throughout the entirety of her career so it's no surprise that it was outside hitter Brooklyn DeLeye who led the offensive charge for UK head coach Craig Skinner and company, as the junior totaled a match-high 18 kills with only three errors on a .429 clip. DeLeye stuffed the stat sheet against the Bison, finishing with eight digs, a pair of service aces and two blocks in the winning effort as well.

But it was setter Ava Sarafa who stole the headlines in the Cats' debut, as the sophomore made her first career start for Kentucky on her 20th birthday. Following the departure of Kentucky's all-time assist leader and former setter Emma Grome upon graduation last year, Sarafa was handed the reigns to the offense and did a masterful job distributing the ball across the court to her hitters. Sarafa dished out a career-high 33 assists and directed the Kentucky attack to 41 kills on .275 hitting with just 11 total errors through three sets of play. 

Following the match, Skinner was pleased with Sarafa's performance and thrilled to see her success after waiting so long to get her chance to take the court. 

"The faster she realizes how good she is the better she'll clean up some of those first ball connection situations," Skinner said. "The fact that she goes out in her first regular season match and wins 3-0 on the road, I mean it's not a top 20 team but at the same time that's a team that always battles for their conference championship. Proud of her to get the nerves out and play ball."

Skinner cited her work ethic and perseverance as key reasons the redshirt sophomore saw so much success in her first collegiate start. 

"It's easy to get discouraged when you come into a college program like ours, one of the highly-ranked recruits in the country, and not play. She didn't see the light of playing for two years with a redshirt year also. For her to continue to grow and work and compete to be on the floor is a credit to her because I think that's less common than it was 5-10 years ago and I think it shows others, 'Hey this a path you can be successful on. Let's do it.'"

But when asked, Sarafa immediately pointed to her teammates as the biggest reasons for her success. 

"Credit to them, they are awesome with communication," Sarafa said. "If there is an off set they know exactly what to say and honestly that's a huge part of our practice. If we're doing setter-hitter connection stuff, they're always giving feedback. And it truly does help me as a setter because there's always going to be that in-between ball where its like, 'Oh, I don't really know what I did wrong there, the hitter was off.' And they just come at you and they're giving you exactly what they need and what the ball needs to be for their sweet spot. So credit to them, I mean they are just great to work with. And they have great communication skills when it comes to setters." 

DeLeye didn't carry the offensive numbers by herself, though, as one of Kentucky's newest Wildcats Eva Hudson also added 10 kills on a .267 clip opposite DeLeye on the outside. Fellow Purdue transfer Lizzie Carr added six kills on a .357 clip out of the middle and Kennedy Washington had four of her own. 

In her second season donning the Libero jersey junior Molly Tuozzo continued to act as the Cats' defensive anchor, picking up ten digs along with a trio of service aces and two assists. Sarafa and Hudson each had seven digs as well and Asia Thigpen had four. 

While the Cats may have struggled in the blocking phase of the game over the last several years, they proved how lethal they can be at the net against the Bison, racking up 8.0 total blocks with three coming solely in the third set. Washington and Thigpen led the way with four rejections apiece, Carr had three, and DeLeye added two. 

With the win, Kentucky improves to 1-0 on the season and wins its season opener for the first time since 2021. Next up, they'll travel just down the road from Lipscomb to Bridgestone Arena for a heavyweight clash with No. 1 Nebraska Sunday afternoon in Nashville as a part of the Sprouts Farmers Market Broadway Block Party. The match will be the first-ever NCAA volleyball game to be broadcast live on ABC with over 10,000 tickets already being sold. And according to Skinner, if the Cats want to come away with a win against the Huskers they're going to have to play a clean game and apply consistent pressure all match long. 

"It's awesome playing teams like that. It's awesome playing teams in the Top 10, it's awesome playing teams that have won National Championships and you can't beat them unless you get that opportunity. We're gonna have to serve tough and block and defend and then score in transition. If we clean up some of our first ball stuff it will allow us to continue to apply pressure to them. Certainly gonna be a tough match, always excited to play them. Got a lot of class and respect for Nebraska's program."

First serve against the Cornhuskers is set for 12:00 pm ET.