{"id":198978,"date":"2026-04-16T05:24:42","date_gmt":"2026-04-16T05:24:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/198978\/"},"modified":"2026-04-16T05:24:42","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T05:24:42","slug":"brooklyn-deleye-reflects-on-uk-volleyballs-historic-run","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/198978\/","title":{"rendered":"Brooklyn DeLeye reflects on UK Volleyball’s historic run"},"content":{"rendered":"

ONE MORE SEASON OF DELEYE<\/p>\n

For Brooklyn DeLeye, the 2025 season was not defined by how it ended, but by everything Kentucky accomplished along the way.<\/p>\n

The Wildcats captured another SEC regular-season title, won the SEC Tournament and advanced to the national championship match, marking one of the most successful seasons in program history.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a huge grind throughout the whole year,\u201d DeLeye said. \u201cFor us to make it to the championship, which is something that has only happened once in the program, has been super cool. I wouldn\u2019t trade it for the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Brooklyn<\/p>\n

Tommy Quarles | UK Athletics<\/p>\n

Molly Tuozzo. Brooklyn DeLeye.<\/p>\n

Even with the loss in the title match, DeLeye said the bigger picture never changed.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs big of a game as that last one is, it doesn\u2019t make or break an entire season,\u201d she said. \u201cNobody thought we were even going to make it to the tournament at that point. We didn\u2019t win that last game, but that doesn\u2019t change all the memories that were made.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Brooklyn<\/p>\n

Elliott Hess<\/p>\n

Brooklyn DeLeye. Brooke Bultema.<\/p>\n

Kentucky falls to Texas A&M, 3-0, in the NCAA National Championship in Kansas City, Mo.<\/p>\n

Elliott Hess | UK Athletics<\/p>\n

Kentucky\u2019s roster was loaded with talent. Molly Tuozzo earned SEC Tournament MVP honors, Eva Hudson was named SEC Player of the Year, and Kassie O\u2019Brien claimed both AVCA and SEC Freshman of the Year awards. The Wildcats also had four AVCA All-Americans.<\/p>\n

That success did not surprise DeLeye.<\/p>\n

\u201cPersonally, I knew what we could do,\u201d she said. She pointed to the road match at Texas as the moment the team realized it could accomplish something special. \u201cNobody thought we were going to win that game, let alone sweep them. That game, everybody was clicking.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Craig<\/p>\n

Anastasia Panaretos\/Anastasia Panaretos<\/p>\n

Craig Skinner. Team Huddle.<\/p>\n

Kentucky vs Xavier.<\/p>\n

Photo by Anastasia Panaretos | UK Athletics<\/p>\n

The culture built by head coach Craig Skinner has played a major role in that rise.<\/p>\n

\u201cBefore you even step foot on campus, you can just tell he\u2019s so bought into the program,\u201d DeLeye said. \u201c[Coach Skinner] cares deeply about us as people… This is truly a family.\u201d<\/p>\n

From Topeka, Kansas, to a vital piece of a championship contender, DeLeye has carved out her place in Kentucky history with one more season still ahead.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis place is so special,\u201d she said. \u201cIf I had to go through it again, I wouldn’t have chose another place.\u201d<\/p>\n

ONE MORE SEASON OF DELEYE<\/p>\n

For more on Kentucky Volleyball and all of the Wildcats, join us on BBN Tonight, airing weeknights at 7:30 p.m. on the official station for UK Athletics, LEX 18.<\/p>\n

\"BBN<\/p>\n

BBN Tonight<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ONE MORE SEASON OF DELEYE For Brooklyn DeLeye, the 2025 season was not defined by how it ended,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":198979,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[4567,38277,98,38278,100,99,11979,38279,7711,38280,9,24,63,6666,38281,49873],"class_list":{"0":"post-198978","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-brooklyn","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-bbn-tonight","10":"tag-brooklyn","11":"tag-brooklyn-deleye","12":"tag-brooklyn-headlines","13":"tag-brooklyn-news","14":"tag-football","15":"tag-keith-farmer","16":"tag-lexington","17":"tag-maggie-davis","18":"tag-new-york","19":"tag-new-york-city","20":"tag-nyc","21":"tag-uk","22":"tag-uk-athletics","23":"tag-wildcats"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198978","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=198978"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198978\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/198979"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=198978"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=198978"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=198978"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}