by LARRY VAUGHT
Kentucky volleyball doesn’t just have depth. Instead, it has quality depth.
“We have 14 players who can actually go in and make an impact. That’s not true for a lot of teams,” said UK assistant coach Kyle Luongo. “A lot of teams might have one person they feel good about throwing in off the bench where they still feel competitive if this person goes in. But we feel competitive if we even have to go three, four or five players deep into the bench.”
Kentucky (12-2 overall, 5-0 SEC) has wins over No. 5 Penn State, No. 10 SMU, No. 3 Louisville and No. 9 Texas A&M. The only losses have been to No. 1 Nebraska and then No. 7 Pittsburgh.
Kentucky has been a superb defensive team this season to go along with the big hitting from Brooklyn DeLeye and Eva Hudson, two of the nation’s best players. Kentucky averages over 14.5 digs per set led by libero Molly Tuozzo with Hudson and DeLeye second and third in digs.
“I think we have some pretty special people on the court. The offense is always going to garner a lot of attention because what’s going to stand out are the offensive plays and blocks,” Luongo said. “The ability to extend rallies by digging what the opponent is trying to bring your way is huge for any team.
“For being as powerful and dynamic as Eva Hudson is, she is an incredible defender because she’s invested a lot of time into developing those skills. Brooklyn has as well. We used to kind of tease Brooklyn that (defense) wasn’t a strength of her game but she took ownership of that. Her standard for herself is really high, so she has improved a ton in that area.
“Then when you surround those two in the back row with defenders like Molly Berezowitz, Molly Tuozzo and Ava Sarafa, you have a lot of opportunities to extend rallies and score with our offense. This has definitely been an area that has become stronger than maybe we anticipated so now it is just a matter of us utilizing that in a way where we can score more points.”
