Kentucky ‘playing with joy’ heading into volleyball championship match

KANSAS CITY, MO ― On Thursday, No.1 Kentucky punched its ticket to the NCAA volleyball championship match by winning a five-set thriller against No. 3 Wisconsin that defied logic.

‘Congrats, guys. We couldn’t have played any worse,’ head coach Craig Skinner told his team in the huddle after Kentucky dropped the first set, 25-12, with a .056 hitting percentage.

The Wildcats, who will play Texas A&M for the national championship on Sunday (3:30 p.m. ET, ABC), did not lead in a single major statistical category against the Badgers, but it didn’t matter. Kentucky clawed back and evened the match 1-1. The two teams traded blocks, kills and long rallies until late in the fourth set when two Badgers’ errors left the door open for the Wildcats. Kentucky, seemingly powered by Wisconsin’s mistakes, stormed out to a 6-1 lead in the fifth set. But, the Badgers weren’t done.

Fueled by massive nights from Mimi Colyer and Carter Booth, Wisconsin kept coming and pushed Kentucky to the brink. It took a colossal push from outside hitter Eva Hudson (29 kills on .455 hitting, seven digs), freshmen Kassie O’Brien and Trinity Ward, libero Molly Tuozzo (17 digs) and Brooklyn DeLeye (15 kills, 14 digs) to fight off the Badgers. Hudson slammed the door on Wisconsin’s title hopes with two final kills, but it was DeLeye’s defense in the fifth set (six digs) that made the difference.

‘The cool thing about this team, I thought we’d done it all, and I thought we found every possible way to win, and tonight was a different way,’ Skinner said after the Wildcats beat Wisconsin. ‘The way they played, the heart that they show is immeasurable. I keep telling them they’re transformational leaders in the way they go about it, what they’ve done for the sport.

‘ Proud of them. But the job isn’t finished.’

The Wildcats said they knew from the first practice in January that they would be playing for a national championship. Hudson revealed this week she didn’t think any growing (from the beginning of the season until now) was needed. She said she knows Kentucky is ready. In her opinion, it’s just a matter of soaking in the environment.

Deleye echoed Hudson’s sentiment about taking it all in. Yet, the junior did admit an underlying thought; none of the players on the Wildcats’ roster have been to a Final Four. Only Skinner has been to the national championship stage and won. He was an assistant on the 2020 team that brought a trophy back to Lexington.

Deleye shared that all year long, the Wildcats have been talking about their ‘why.’ She says there’s a lot of pressure that comes with volleyball, especially in the SEC tournament and NCAA tournament, where they earned wins over UCLA, Creighton and Wisconsin. Yet, Deleye and Hudson both agreed the Wildcats are just out there to have fun and ‘play with joy.’

‘In the last few games, have drawn smiley faces on our hands or somewhere where we can see it to remind us to play with joy,’ Hudson said. ‘Some of the best times in volleyball, and when we’re really playing well, is when we’re all playing with joy and bouncing off one another. Kind of have those reminders in those pressure situations, too, is a really good thing.’

Kentucky said in the midst of their joy and between sets, they look one another in the eyes. Everything is moving at such a fast pace that the Wildcats want to take the time to connect and say ‘I got you’ to each other to promote unity. They needed that same reminder deep in the match against Wisconsin when the season and a possible championship were on the line.

In a sequence that seemingly went unnoticed, DeLeye and Tuozzo took a brief moment to look at each other and nearly simultaneously make a ‘mask on’ gesture. However, Tuozzo later explained that it wasn’t a ‘mask’ she and Deleye were proverbially putting on. It was a helmet.

‘Helmet on, ready to dig,’ Tuozzo said matter-of-factly.

Deleye added when there’s an open hole or the block is not there, someone will typically step up into the seam, and ‘whatever happens happens.’ Kentucky will live with the results, knowing it put its ‘body on the line.’ With two losses this season and an impressive 28-match winning streak that also includes an October victory over the Aggies, Kentucky has maintained its composure throughout the NCAA tournament.

The Wildcats have taken multiple moments during the Final Four to talk about how their ‘accountability partners’ have helped them. Players on the roster have someone who can pick them up on days when they may struggle and remind them not to get caught up in what they aren’t doing. That collective support and belief in one another started at the beginning of the season and has translated into joy at the highest levels of volleyball, something that has even impressed Skinner, who is in his 21st year of coaching.

‘Because they play with such joy, I want to coach more players like that. I want players that you don’t really have to coach body language and enthusiasm,’ Skinner said. ‘If you do, you’re spending all your effort on the wrong things. We can spend our energy on how do we put the pieces togetherand form a system to go around that.’

‘(It’s) trying to find those people that are driven internally, and have an enthusiasm, infectious enthusiasm for life. Those guys, being around them every day, I look forward to that.’