No. 3 Kentucky escapes the Music City with four-set win over Vanderbilt

Kentucky can finally call themselves road warriors. In the No. 3 Volleyball Cats’ first true road game, they earned a four-set victory over Vanderbilt (21-25, 25-17, 25-19, 25-21), handing the Commodores their first loss, on Wednesday night. Craig Skinner defeats his student, Vandy head coach Anders Nelson — a longtime assistant with UK volleyball and member of the 2020 national championship squad. The Commodores started 9-0, and just a spot shy of the top 25 in only their program’s second season. With 15 service errors, Kentucky’s offensive efficiency and blocking made up for it. The Cats tallied 64 kills to nine attack errors — with one error combined in the middle two frames — on a .444 hit percentage, and 12 blocks on the defensive side. Morgan Gaerte and Brooklyn DeLeye scored 21 kills each to lead the Cats, and only surrendered four attack errors combined. Molly Tuozzo got some help in the back from fellow defensive specialist Trinity Ward, each earning double-digit digs, with 15 and 11. Battling their first road environment, UK succumbed to the Commodores’ home court advantage in the opening set, with Vandy earning an early 4-2 lead and not looking back, winning it 25-21. UK’s Achilles heel was service errors, with five to Vandy’s zero, and fittingly ended the set with one. Brooklyn DeLeye was a non-factor with only two kills on five swings, while the Dores’ Reese Animashaun led all players with six kills on 11 swings. In the same position on Sunday versus Louisville, UK showed their resilience is not a fluke. Memorial Gymnasium reads “Anchor Down”, but UK used Vandy’s mantra as motivation until match’s end. In the second set, Kentucky scorched on a 7-0 run, sending the match to the technical timeout leading 15-7. UK’s hit rate in the set was north of .600 at this point. From there, the Cats cruised to their first set victory, winning it 25-17. The team finished with a .500 hit percentage with only one attack error. DeLeye woke up with a six-kill, no-error set two. Kentucky took set three 25-19, firing on all cylinders offensively but just couldn’t pull away, needing a .680 hit rate just to clinch the frame. Morgan Gaerte spearheaded the offense with seven terminations in the set. Trinity Ward was an unsung hero in the back, with a pair of aces and seven digs through three sets. After jumping to an early 4-0 lead in the final frame, Kentucky couldn’t separate further from the Commodores, even with DeLeye’s six quick kills. Vandy kept up with, and even edged out, the Cats’ high efficiency throughout the set. Tied at 17, UK embarked on a 4-0 run to build a comforting 21-17 lead. From there they cruised to the set and match victory 25-21. With a win under their belt to kick off conference play, Kentucky heads back home to host No. 7 Texas on Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. on ESPN.