Balanced Team Effort Leads No. 13 Kentucky Past Missouri

Thanks to some terrific balance both offensively and defensively, No. 13 Kentucky wrapped up a perfect week as they downed Missouri in straight sets (25-18, 25-20, 25-21) Sunday afternoon inside Memorial Coliseum.

The Cats held the Tigers to a hitting clip of just .103, forcing them into 21 hitting errors through only three sets of play. Missouri failed to see a player eclipse double figures in the match and three Tigers hit negative.

Kentucky’s defensive effort was quarterbacked by Megan Wilson and Brooke Bultema, who each sent back 4.0 blocks at the net. Jordyn Dailey and Brooklyn DeLeye each added a pair of their own, and Haley Melby and Emma Grome each finished with one. 

On the back line, sophomore Molly Tuozzo tallied a match-high 12 digs. Senior Eleanor Beavin added six and Grome finished with four.

Following the match, UK head coach Craig Skinner was pleased with his team’s effort on both sides of the court. 

“Pleased with the effort today. Really good job by Emma (Grome) distributing the offense, getting a lot of people involved offensively. Defensively, to hold a team like Missouri to .103 was impressive by our team.”

Offensively, Grome set one of the Cats’ most balanced matches of the season as five Wildcats totaled at least 16 attempts. DeLeye led the way with 12 kills, Wilson had 10, Bultema finished with 7, and Dailey had 6. 

Kentucky totaled 39 kills as a team and hit .303 behind 32 assists from Grome. 

With the victory, the Cats improve to 9-6 on the season and 2-1 in the SEC. They’ll take the week off before welcoming No. 7 Texas next Sunday inside Memorial. First serve against the Longhorns is set for 1:00 pm and will be broadcast live on ESPN.