#3 Kentucky @ #2 Texas 11-2-2025 WVB

Dear Readers~

    Welcome to the latest NCAA Division 1 Women's Indoor Volleyball game. In this game we have Texas taking on Kentucky in the Texas state capital of Austin. This game took place on November 2nd at 12pm Central Time at the Gregory Gymnasium. Going into the game, Texas has a record of 18-1 with their only loss to Texas A&M while Kentucky sits at 17-2 with losses to Nebraska in Late August and Pittsburg in early September. This is the only time these two will play each other in the 2025 regular season. The last time I covered Kentucky, they lost to Nebraska. This is the second time I've covered Texas this season (yes I know it was the last game to be covered). With Kentucky being undefeated for all of September and Texas being undefeated all season until Halloween night (Nebraska being the only team left to hold this title), who do you think will win? Let's get into today's game from the Texan state capital of Austin to find out.

    For those who have seen my coverage of the NCAA beach games back in the spring and my previous indoor games this fall, I explained the difference between the beach and indoor games. For those who don't know, the way indoor works is you have to win 3 sets, whether it be all 3, or 3 of the 4/5 sets that are played. As for the scoring, for the beach, it's played first to 21 while indoor is played first to 25 and both require a lead of two points or more for the set to conclude. If a fifth set is needed, the teams play first to 15 instead of 25 but the lead of two points or more is still enforced for both games. Unlike the beach game, in indoor you can switch players in and out (the NCAA only gives you 15 per set so you have to use them wisely with 6 players on the court), like in basketball for example, but with beach you can't switch them out and you only get one timeout for each set per team as to where NCAA indoor gets two timeouts per set for each team since they generally play longer sets. Enough about the beach game, let's get into this indoor game from the capital of America's second largest and second most populous state, Texas, specifically the capital of Austin.

    The first set ended with the biggest gap in the scoring of the whole game. This set ended at 25-14 in favor of Kentucky. The second set would end with the most points in a single set. This set would end at 28-26, in favor of Kentucky as well. With it now at 2-0 in favor of Kentucky, Texas knows they'll have to step it up or risk losing two games in a row. The third set would end at 27-25 in favor of Kentucky and give them the 3-0 win over Texas and also handing Texas not only their second loss of the season, but also their second loss in a row.

    Let's see who the top athlete of each stat is. The 5 stats we'll be looking at include kills, aces, blocks, assists, and digs. The leader in kills goes to Kentucky's Eva Hudson, with 20, and Brooklyn Deleye, with 18. The leaders for Texas include Torrey Stafford, with 15, and Cari Spears, with 13. The leaders for aces go to Torrey Stafford, of Texas, and Molly Tuozzo, of Kentucky, each with 3. The leader in blocks goes to Texas' Ayden Ames, with 6, and Kentucky's Lizzie Carr, with 4. The leader in assists goes to Kentucky's Kassie O'brien, with 43, while Ella Swindle led Texas with 33 of her own.The leader in digs goes to Kentucky's Eva Hudson and Kassie O'brien, each with 11, and Texas' Emma Halter, with 10. The athletes that showed up the most for each team is Kentucky's Eva Hudson and Texas' Torrey Stafford, who each showed up in four of the five stats mentioned. Hudson ended with 20 kills, 1 ace, 2 blocks, and 11 digs. Stafford ended with 15 kills, 3 aces, 2 blocks, and 7 digs. Did either of these athletes being at the top surprise you?

    With today's game concluded, let's see who each team will play next. Like mentioned earlier in the week for those who saw my coverage of the Texas @ A&M game, Texas will be playing either Missouri, Ole Miss, or LSU for the Quarterfinals of the SEC Conference Championships in Savannah, Georgia at the Enmarket Arena. Kentucky will be playing at this same tournament. They will play either Auburn, Oklahoma, or Arkansas for the Quarterfinals. Would you like this tournament covered or a different conference? Just let me know and we'll see who makes it to Kansas City for the National Championship bracket.

This week's rankings came out the day after this game happened so as you can see, after losing to both A&M and then Kentucky, Texas fell by two spots. Follow the NCAA over on their Instagram to see how the weekly poll looks next week: @ncaavolleyball

Kentucky's matchday post they put on their Instagram as they head to the Lone Star state to face one of the only 2 teams ranked higher than they are: Texas. Give them a follow over on that platform to see how their season is going: @kentuckyvolleyball

The matchday post Texas put on their Instagram as they host Kentucky. give them a follow over on that platform to see how their season is going: @texasvolleyball

The NCAA showing us the 3-0 sweep Kentucky gave Texas

Kentucky showing those on Instagram the results of the game

    This concludes #2 Texas hosting #3 Kentucky in Austin. With this being the only time this season they'll play each other, do you think they'll play each other in the SEC tournament or the national championships journey or will we have to wait for the 2026 season to see the two on opposite sides of the net again? Stay tuned for the next game as I cover Arizona State hosting Arizona in Tempe, just outside of Phoenix. With Arizona State still undefeated at home, who do you think will come out on top? Tune in next time to find out. I hope you're prepared for the national championships journey as we get closer to that event in Kansas City, Missouri at the T-Mobile Center next month. Stay tuned for that coverage and until next time, Miller out

~J. Miller