Noile roluri ale echipei Wildcats în voleiul britanic au dus la patru premii majore SEC

No. 2 Kentucky volleyball’s run of success continued Wednesday with the release of the 2025 Southeastern Conference volleyball regular season awards.

The Wildcats (22-2), who won their ninth consecutive SEC championship with a 15-0 league record, won four major awards. The awards were voted on by all 16 SEC coaches, with the caveat that coaches could not vote for their own players.

Outside hitter Eva Hudson, a transfer from Purdue and Kentucky’s lone senior, was named both the SEC Player of the Year and the league Newcomer of the Year. Setter Kassie O’Brien was awarded SEC Freshman of the Year, and head coach Craig Skinner was named conference Coach of the Year for the third consecutive season and the seventh time during his 21 seasons at the helm. Skinner guided Kentucky to its second undefeated conference slate since his hiring in 2024 and its first since 2018.

Kentucky had “six new players on a roster of 14, and that’s a big percentage,” Skinner said after the Wildcats swept Arkansas on Sunday to secure outright ownership of the conference championship.

But Skinner said a culture built over the years has created an environment for even first-year Wildcats like Hudson and O’Brien — who won the program’s first starting setter competition in nearly a decade — to take it upon themselves to win a title of their own.

“And those new players immediately bought into the culture and the foundation of what we’ve built,” Skinner said. “And the returning players made them feel like this was theirs. And the ownership that they each felt in their roles was pretty significant to help us.”

An eventual consequence of their commitment: Hudson and O’Brien were each named to the All-SEC First Team, and each joined exclusive lists in the history of the program.

Hudson is the seventh Wildcat to win SEC Player of the Year honors and the fifth since 2020. She extends UK’s tradition after former winners Brooklyn DeLeye (2024), Emma Grome (2022), Alli Stumler (2021), Madison Lilley (2020), Leah Edmond (2018-19) and Sarah Rumely (2008).

Hudson is the first Wildcat to be named Newcomer of the Year (established by the SEC in 2023).

O’Brien becomes the seventh Kentucky freshman to win SEC Freshman of the Year. Each of the six Wildcats before her went on to be named SEC Player of the Year later in their careers.

Outside hitter DeLeye, now a junior, joined Hudson and O’Brien as an All-SEC First Team selection. O’Brien was also named to the league All-Freshman Team. Junior libero Molly Tuozzo was named an All-SEC Second Teamer.

The Wildcats, the top-overall seed, will open SEC Tournament play on Saturday at noon EST in the quarterfinals at Enmarket Arena in Savannah, Ga. The game will be broadcast on SEC Network.

Kentucky volleyball is on a quest to win three championships this season — the SEC regular-season title (check), the SEC Tournament title and the national championship. But the team’s focus, Skinner said, has zeroed in on one moment at a time.

“They have an elite ability to stay present,” Skinner said. “They have an elite ability to compete. And regardless of the situations we’ve had this year, they’ve been ready for the next opportunity (when) the whistle blows. And I think that’s a super important part of championship teams, and this team embraced that, and we’ve won offensively. We’ve won defensively. We’ve won with our serve. And who knows what it’s gonna be next time?”

2025 SEC Volleyball Awards

Player of the Year: Eva Hudson, Kentucky

Libero of the Year: Maya Sands, Missouri

Newcomer of the Year: Eva Hudson, Kentucky

Freshman of the Year: Kassie O’Brien, Kentucky

Scholar-Athlete of the Year: Jackie Moore, Vanderbilt

Coach of the Year: Craig Skinner, Kentucky

All-SEC First Team: Lauren Dreves, Auburn; Jaela Auguste, Florida; Bianna Muoneke, Georgia; Brooklyn DeLeye, Eva Hudson, Kassie O’Brien, Kentucky; Jurnee Robinson, LSU; Alexis Shelton, Oklahoma; Caroline Kerr, Hayden Kubik, Tennessee; Cari Spears, Torrey Stafford, Texas; Ifenna Cos-Okpalla, Logan Lednicky, Kyndal Stowers, Maddie Waak, Texas A&M.

All-SEC Second Team: Jordyn Byrd, Alexis Stucky, Florida; Molly Tuozzo, Kentucky; Lindsey Mangelson, Mississippi State; Caylen Alexander, Maya Sands, Missouri; Kelli Jo Burgess, Oklahoma; Emma Halter, Texas; Jackie Moore, Vanderbilt.

All-Freshman Team: Lily Hayes, Milica Vidacic, Florida; Kassie O’Brien, Kentucky; Lindsey Mangelson, Mississippi State; Zoë Humphrey, Tennessee; Taylor Harvey, Cari Spears, Abby Vander Wal, Texas.