PITTSBURGH, Pa. – Thanks to 22 kills from Brooklyn DeLeye on Thursday afternoon, the third-seeded Kentucky Volleyball team beat seventh-seeded Missouri, 3-1, (25-20, 25-20, 16-25, 25-13) to book a ticket into the 2024 NCAA Volleyball Regional Final on Saturday afternoon. It is Kentucky’s first appearance back in the NCAA Regional Finals since it won the national championship in 2020.

With the win, Kentucky is into its third NCAA Regional Final under Craig Skinner, and will play either (1) Pittsburgh or (4) Oregon on Saturday afternoon at 5 p.m. ET on ESPN2. Anne Marie Anderson, Nicole Branagh and Michela Chester will have the call from the Petersen Events Center in downtown Pittsburgh.

During the match, Kentucky hit .347 with three players etching into double-figure scoring as DeLeye led all players in the match with 22 kills and Megan Wilson (13) joining Brooke Bultema (10) with 10+ terminations for the match. Emma Grome guided the Kentucky offense with her seventh 50+ assist match of the season as she also notched a double-double with 10 digs to go alongside her 50 assists in the match.

Along with Molly Tuozzo’s team-leading 11 digs for the match, Eleanor Beavin had 10 and Grome had 10 with Kentucky holding Missouri to .241 hitting for the afternoon, including a -.037 percentage in the fourth set as the Wildcats closed out their berth in the NCAA Regional Final. Tuozzo also had a kill in the match.

Both teams had five aces in the match with Brooklyn DeLeye notching three of Kentucky’s five aces for the match along with six digs and a pair of blocks. In what was an incredibly even match statistically, both teams also had seven blocks for the contest, but it was the four stuffs by UK in the fourth set alone that made the difference down the stretch to push the Wildcats into the next round.

Set One

Mizzou was ahead for the early parts of the opening set with Kentucky taking its first lead at 9-8 on a stuff by Jordyn Dailey at the net solo. The lead for the Wildcats expanded to five at 14-9 following Brookyln DeLeye’s third kill of the contest and Kentucky took a 15-12 lead at the media timeout when Megan Wilson planted her second kill of the afternoon to the floor on an offspeed attack to the middle of the court. Missouri went on an 8-4 run to close the gap as the Tigers pulled to within 18-17, but UK’s two-point edge was reinstated on a free ball capitalized by Erin Lamb on her third termination. Kentucky pushed 20 on Missouri’s second service error of the match to give UK the 20-18 lead. The Wildcats closed the set on a 5-1 run and took the opening set, 25-20. Kentucky hit .457 in the first set and had 18 kills to just two errors.

Set Two

Kentucky used its immense service pressure and the consistent attacking of Megan Wilson to jet out to a 15-9 lead in the second set. The lead was helped by Megan Wilson’s seventh kill of the match to make things 12-8 and then Mizzou called a timeout on the next point after a ball was headed over incredibly by Wilson and a Brookyln DeLeye kill ended the point two stanzas later in the rally. DeLeye’s 11th kill of the match to get her into double figures pushed the Kentucky lead to 19-11 on a 3-0 scoring run with her serve to push the Tigers into their final timeout of the set with the Tigers down a set-high eight points at that point. Missouri came out of its timeout and ran off four points in a row and all of the sudden cut the Kentucky lead that was eight in half to four and leading 21-17, Kentucky called its first timeout with its lead trimmed to four. A Jordyn Dailey kill out of the middle got Mizzou out of its run and DeLeye’s 12th kill of the match ended the second set and gave Kentucky a 2-0 lead in the match. Through two sets, Kentucky was hitting .368 with Mizzou hitting .250 and .194 in the second set alone.

Set Three

Mizzou jetted out to a 9-4 lead in the third set and Kentucky called its first timeout of the set down five points, its largest deficit of the afternoon to that point. The run extended to 8-0 as the Tigers hit their spot on the serves and Kentucky called its second timeout down 13-4, the largest lead for either team in any set to that point in the match. The run ended on an Asia Thigpen kill, but the lead was too much to overcome for Kentucky, who dropped the third set, 25-xx.

Set Four

With three early kills off the arm of Brooklyn DeLeye and pressure serves by Eleanor Beavin, Kentucky took the turn of jetting out to the early lead in the fourth set, as the Wildcats ballooned a lead that was 7-4 and turned it into a six-point lead at 12-6, where Mizzou called its first timeout as Kentucky was on a 2-0 run and had won four of the last five points to that point in the set. A successful challenge by Craig Skinner and a stuff block by Jordyn Dailey gave Kentucky a 19-10 lead and Mizzou called its second and final timeout of the set with Kentucky leading by a set-high nine points in the fourth. A block by Brooke Bultema and Brooklyn DeLeye iced the match and Kentucky booked its ticket into the Elite Eight.

For the latest on UK Volleyball, follow the Wildcats on Twitter and Instagram at @KentuckyVB.