Notre Dame transfer Morgan Gaerte is already popular with young UK volleyball fans. (Larry Vaught Photo)
By LARRY VAUGHT
Eva Hudson transferred from Purdue to Kentucky for the 2025 season and became the Southeastern Conference Player of the Year, was a finalist for AVCA National Player of the Year and helped Kentucky reach the national title game.
She was the perfect complement for All-American Brooklyn DeLeye and gave Kentucky a one-two punch few teams could match.
This year Notre Dame standout Morgan Gaerte transferred to Kentucky after Hudson graduated and left for a professional career. Now she will be the one providing the power to go with DeLeye. She had 497 kills last season.
“She’s super fun to play with. I think off the court, she’s super silly and funny and she’s just always laughing. I mean, you can like hear her laughing all the time and I love her,” Gaerte said about playing with DeLeye. “She has a super funny laugh, which is awesome.
“On the court, she’s so competitive and she’s really fun to play with. She has a lot of ways to score. I think she’s really good at just rebounding off the block, which is something I didn’t really know a ton about her doing.
“She’s just really good at fixing every set she can and just finding a way to kill the ball, which I think is something I could add to my game.”
DeLeye is 6-foot-2. Gaerte goes 6-foot-5 and middle blocker Lizzie Carr is 6-foot-6. Gaerte thinks Carr is also “super funny.” She’s also an intimidating blocker.
“Our block’s going to be really fun this fall. She is 6-6. I am 6-5. It has been really fun to get that block going with her and get some really good blocks that we are going to be able to celebrate with some really good blocks,” Gaerte said.
