LEXINGTON, Ky — The schedule continues to take shape ahead of the 2025 college volleyball season. The Kentucky volleyball program, in conjunction with the Southeastern Conference, released the dates, opponents and locations of all league matches for the upcoming season Thursday morning.
The times and television assignments will be announced by ESPN at a later date closer to the start of the season in the fall.
The format for the 2025 season is a single round robin with all teams playing 15 games, followed by a conference tournament championship held for the first time in more than a decade. With Vanderbilt joining the league in volleyball this season, there are now 16 teams competing in the SEC. Each team will play either seven home games and eight away games or vice versa.
Before league play begins, the Wildcats will open the season with a non-conference matchup in Nashville for the inaugural Broadway Block Party at Bridgestone Arena. Kentucky will face perennial power, Nebraska, on Sunday, August 31st at noon. The Huskers are now led by former Louisville head coach, Dani Busboom Kelly, who accepted the Nebraska job this off-season.
The remainder of Kentucky's non-conference schedule has not yet been released.
Kentucky will kick off opening weekend of SEC play the following month, hosting South Carolina on opening night, Sept. 24. The Gamecocks are now led by former Wildcat and UK Athletics Hall of Famer, Sarah Rumely Noble. The first-year South Carolina coach was a four-time All-SEC setter and two-time AVCA All-American at Kentucky from 2006-09, where she earned SEC Freshman of the Year honors in 2006 and SEC Player of the Year honors in 2008.
The Wildcats will then host the Georgia Bulldogs on Sept. 26. UK will then play its first road match of the league season at Ole Miss on Oct. 3.
A nice crowd for the @KentuckyVB spring match turned into an intrasquad match!#BBN will stick around for a meet & greet afterwards pic.twitter.com/yZk8FGFms8
— Sierra Newton (@SoFlossieWrites) April 6, 2025
One of the biggest matches of the league season follows as Kentucky will travel to College Station to play Texas A&M on Oct. 8 before closing out the three-match road swing at LSU on Oct. 12.
Kentucky will host the Auburn Tigers on October 15, followed by the Florida Gators that Sunday, the 19th. Like Nebraska, Florida is also replacing a long-time head coach this year, as Mary Wise retired this off-season after 34 seasons at the helm. Her decision to step down makes UK head coach Craig Skinner the longest-tenured coach in the league, as he enters his 21st season with the Wildcats. Meanwhile, the Gators are now led by Ryan Theis, a former Florida assistant, who re-joins the conference after 11 years as the head coach at Marquette.
Vanderbilt is the new-kid-on-the-block in the conference, as the Commodores have (re)created a varsity team for the first (and only) time since the 1979-80 season. Former UK assistant coach, Anders Nelson, is Vandy's head coach, and former Wildcat and 2020 National Champion Azhani Tealer is one of the team's assistants.
The Wildcats will play Vanderbilt for the first time in over four decades when the Cats welcome the Commodores to Lexington on Oct. 31, Halloween night.
Then comes an-especially tough stretch: the Cats have three-consecutive matches against the top finishers from the league a season ago. First, UK will visit the Texas Longhorns on Nov. 2, followed by a trip to Mizzou on Nov. 7 and a home match against Tennessee on Nov. 9.
UK closes the regular season with matches against Oklahoma (Nov. 14) and Arkansas (Nov. 16) in Lexington, before heading to the SEC Volleyball Tournament Championship. The league's post-season tournament is making its return this year for the first time since 2005.
This year's SEC Tournament, as well as the next two, will be played in Enmarket Arena in Savannah, Georgia.
2025 SEC Volleyball Schedule – Kentucky
Sept. 24 – vs. South Carolina
Sept. 26 – vs. Georgia
Oct. 3 – at Ole Miss
Oct. 8 – at Texas A&M
Oct. 12 – at LSU
Oct. 15 – vs. Auburn
Oct. 19 – vs. Florida
Oct. 24 – at Mississippi St.
Oct. 26 – at Alabama
Oct. 31 – vs. Vanderbilt
Nov. 2 – at Texas
Nov. 7 – at Missouri
Nov. 9 – vs. Tennessee
Nov. 14 – vs. Oklahoma
Nov. 16 – vs. Arkansas
Nov. 21-25 – SEC Tournament (Savannah, Ga.)
The Wildcats return multiple contributors from last year's Elite Eight team, including reigning SEC Player of the Year, outside hitter Brooklyn Deleye, an All-SEC Second-Team member, libero Molly Tuozzo, and an AVCA All-South Region Team Honorable Mention, middle blocker Brooke Bultema.
Coach Skinner signed three additions out of the transfer portal this off-season. Outside hitter Eva Hudson, who led the Big Ten in kills last season, and middle blocker Lizzie Carr, who is the younger sister of former Kentucky basketball player, Andrew Carr, both signed with the Cats out of Purdue.
Libero/defensive specialist Molly Berezowitz joins the program after two seasons with Marquette. The rising junior is the younger sister of Maddie Berezowitz, who played at Kentucky from 2019-2022 and was a part of the 2020 NCAA National Championship winning team.
Kentucky also added three freshmen to its roster this season - Trinity Ward (DS/libero), Kassie O'Brien (setter) and Georgia Watson (outside hitter) - as well as two new members of the coaching staff: Kyle Luongo (associate head coach) and Amaya Tillman (assistant coach).
The Wildcats travel to Indianapolis this Saturday, April 12 for a spring scrimmage against Illinois. Kentucky will conclude its spring schedule the following Friday, April 18, with a road trip to Louisville to take on the Cardinals.
For more on the volleyball team and all of the Wildcats, join us weeknights at 7:30 p.m. on BBN Tonight.
