Kentucky VB swept by Texas A&M in national championship

Kentucky volleyball’s magical season came to a disappointing end.

On Sunday afternoon in Kansas City, the Wildcats were swept (24-26, 15-25, 20-25) by the Texas A&M Aggies in the NCAA Tournament national championship match. Kentucky had no answers for Texas A&M’s blocking, as the ‘Cats hit just .148 for the match compared to .257 for Texas A&M. Eva Hudson led both teams with 13 kills, but it was a struggle to land points all match for UK.

Hudson, in what was her final game as a ‘Cat, was aided by nine kills and eight digs from Brooklyn DeLeye. Lizzie Carr and Asia Thigpen both chipped in seven kills apiece. Molly Tuozzo paced UK with 11 digs while Kassie O’Brien dished out 34 assists. For Texas A&M, a combined 21 kills from Logan Lednicky and Kyndal Stowers powered the Aggies to what ended up being a relatively easy sweep.

Kentucky (30-3) was terrific all season, grabbing a one-seed in the NCAA Tournament, winning the SEC for the ninth straight year, and even winning the SEC Tournament. This was a team on a 27-match win streak coming into Sunday. But Craig Skinner’s group just ran into a team on a mission in the final round. Texas A&M, a three-seed fueled by nine seniors, beat a trio of one-seeds en route to winning the program’s first-ever national title.

Kentucky was first to strike in set one, jumping ahead to a 6-1 lead that it would maintain for a while. Despite losing a challenge in the middle of the set, the ‘Cats were ahead 14-8 before an eventual 4-0 Aggie run cut the deficit down to two, 18-16, forcing Skinner to call a timeout. A Hudson kill out of the break pushed the lead back to three, but Texas A&M continued to respond. We were tied at 20, 21, 23, and 24 before the Aggies finished off the set, 26-24, with back-to-back points. UK had four service errors in the set compared to just two for A&M.

Blowing an early lead and dropping that set would prove costly for UK.

The Aggies’ momentum continued into the second set. A quick 5-2 lead grew to 8-4. It felt like Texas A&M was playing perfect volleyball — an entirely different game than the version Kentucky was playing. A&M was blocking every single kill attempt from the ‘Cats, feeding off the pro-Aggie crowd that made it feel like the match was being held in College Station. Texas A&M went ahead 15-7 at the media timeout, a lead that grew to 19-8. UK cut the advantage down to as few as seven, 21-14, but then saw the Aggies go on a 4-1 run to take the set, 25-15. Kentucky posted a -0.021 hitting percentage in the second set.

With backs against the wall, Kentucky continued to struggle. Texas A&M scored the first three points of a must-win set for the ‘Cats, eventually ballooning its lead to 8-4 thanks to the Aggies’ third service ace of the match. Kentucky was able to make it a two-point set, 10-8, but a 5-2 run into the media timeout gave A&M a 15-10 cushion. Skinner called his last timeout with his team down 19-11 in hopes of finding some sort of answer. But at this point, there wasn’t one. Kentucky tacked on a few more points before ultimately dropping the set — and the match — in a disheartening sweep.

The good news for Kentucky? Hudson is the only senior on the roster. Skinner can return three All-Americans and a talented core going into 2026, where UK will once again be among the nation’s top teams. But losing in this fashion is going to be tough to swallow as we enter the offseason.

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