Brooklyn DeLeye had her best game at UK Friday night. (Vicky Graff Photo)
She knew it was Kentucky’s first Southeastern Conference match and for a team that has dominated conference play in recent years, freshman Brooklyn DeLeye knew the team needed to “come out with fire” against LSU.
She did that and more Friday night in Rupp Arena to lead No. 22 Kentucky to a much needed 3-1 (23-25, 25-22, 25-18, 25-13) win over LSU.
DeLeye, part of UK’s top-ranked recruiting class, had a career-high 19 kills with only three errors on 36 tries and hit over .500 most of the match. She also had a career-high seven digs.
Her career night helped offset not having All-American Reagan Rutherford who missed the match because of an injury.
“This was a big game to show what we are made of,” said DeLeye said. “We had to all step up and have her (Rutherford’s) back. We had to show our support for her and everyone stepped up. It was a team effort. It was not just me.”
Could this be the start of numbers like this for her every game?
“I don’t know about that,” DeLete said. “I was just trying to find the open court to be honest.”
Kentucky was in a rare spot coming into the match. Coach Craig Skinner’s team was 3-6 in non-conference play with five of the losses coming to ranked teams with all but one of them on the road. Kentucky snapped a three-match losing streak — a rarity in Skinner’s tenure at UK.
LSU overcame an 8-2 deficit in set one to win before Kentucky adjusted and took control of the match.
“I am pleased with the win. We had a great crowd for a Friday night. It was very enthusiastic and we needed that after the first set,” Skinner said. “I really like the competitive maturity of the group.
“We had a lot of balance tonight. Offensively hitting over .300 without our leading point scorer (Rutherford) was really good. Brooklyn has been training hard and it was good to see her play in a variety of ways she has now played before.”
Seniors Elise Goetzinger (12), Megan Wilson (11), and Azhani Tealer (10) all had double-digit kills.
Setter Emma Grove had 51 assists — one reason UK hit .336 — along with five digs, four kills, a service ace and one block. Eleanor Beavin led the Cats in digs with 19.
Skinner said it felt good just to have his team win again going into Sunday afternoon’s home match with No. 14 Tennessee.
“You train so hard all the time. We have been improving each week,” the UK coach said. “We played well Sunday (at Nebraska) in spurts, so playing well and responding after the first set was important and the goal is to always get a win.
