Kentucky coach Craig Skinner anticipates Notre Dame transfer Morgan Gaerte will make a big jump in her play at Kentucky. (Vicky Graff Photo)
Kentucky volleyball added Eva Hudson of Purdue and Molly Berezowitz of Marquette in the 2025 transfer portal. Coach Craig Skinner’s team reached the national title game with Hudson earning SEC Player of the Year honors and Berezowitz becoming one of the team’s inspirational leaders.
Kentucky lost three players — Brooke Bultema, Ava Sarafa and Jordan Dailey — to the transfer portal this offseason but also added Notre Dame outside hitter Morgan Gaerte, who has two years of eligibility left.
The 6-foot-5 Gaerte was a first-team all-ACC selection. She started 28 matches and had 497 kills, the most by a Notre Dame player in the rally-scoring era and third most ever by a Notre Dame player. She averaged 4.64 kills per set and had 10 or more kills in 22 straight matches.
“Excited for Morgan and what she currently can do, but I think more importantly what she will be able to do once she gets immersed in our training and our strength program,” Skinner said. “She’s an incredible point scorer.
“We don’t know exactly what that looks like. Is it on the left is on the right, but she has the ability to terminate the ball, and when you’re scoring the way she was on a team, a non NCAA tournament team, that tells you a lot.
“Everyone knew where the ball was going when she was playing at Notre Dame. For someone as tall as she is to be able to serve, receive with a decent ability to block … her blocking presence, even if she doesn’t block, it will make people think about where to attack the ball when she’s there. Just the quality of kid she is and the confidence and belief that she has in herself, I think there’s endless possibilities with a player like her.”
The Angola, Ind., native was the No. 5 ranked player in her recruiting class by Volleyball Magazine in 2023. Her club coach was Lloy Ball, a four-time Olympian and 2008 gold medalist. Skinner and Ball have known each other since college.
“I trust his instincts and what he’s saying about people. He knows me and knows our program and what type of players work well with me and what we’re doing,” Skinner said. “Programs like this aren’t for everybody.
“We’re trying to be really good, so it’s time consuming and he knows that is what she’s wants., You put a lot of faith in your people and then people that you know around the volleyball world when you are deciding about who to bring into your program.”
