Kentucky volleyball is once again making big waves in the NCAA.
No. 3 Kentucky traveled to Nassau, Bahamas this weekend to face off against No. 8 SMU in the first ever Paradise Invitational. The Wildcats entered this series 5-0 against the Mustangs and suffered their first loss Saturday afternoon in four sets 3-1 (25-27), (25-21), (21-25), (25-27).
Kentucky’s biggest stars showed up tonight with big performances from Brooklyn DeLeye, Morgan Gaerte, Lizzie Carr and Asia Thigpen.
DeLeye and Gaerte each had a double-double in this match – DeLeye with 14 kills and 11 digs and Gaerte with 17 kills and 10 digs.
Thigpen also added 10 kills to the match, most of them coming in desperate times for the Cats. Carr recorded six kills and eight blocks on the night as well.
In total, the Wildcats had 51 kills and 15 blocks as a team.
So what went wrong?
Sulli Davis for SMU was the main problem for the Cats tonight. She recorded 25 kills and 15 digs to lead the Mustangs to their first victory over the Wildcats.
Favor Anyanwu, who was on the AVCA Player of The Year Watchlist, put up five kills and eight blocks. Natalia Newsome also had a great match for SMU with 11 kills to support her team.
Kentucky also recorded 41 errors in this match which makes it incredibly difficult to win against such a tough team like SMU.
Overall, it was an extremely tough game for the Wildcats. Despite the big-time blocking performance, SMU played a much cleaner game and sent the Wildcats home with a 3-1 loss.
Kentucky will be back in action Sunday in the Bahamas once again, taking on Houston at 1 p.m. EST.
Credit: Maria Moresea/Kentucky Kernel
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