Despite 17 kills from the arm of sophomore Brooklyn DeLeye and 3,838 spectators in the home game, it was not enough for the No. 11 Kentucky volleyball team as No. 4 Louisville defeated the Cats in four sets (21-25, 18-25, 25-20, 16-25) on Wednesday night at the Memorial Coliseum.

On offense, Kentucky struggled to stop the ball, with only DeLeye and junior middle blocker Brooke Bultema reaching double figures and scoring over .000. DeLeye totaled 17 kills at a .204 percentage and Bultema totaled 11 kills at a .381 percentage. Megan Wilson finished with seven kills, Erin Lamb with four and Jordyn Dailey with three.

The Cats continued to put on an impressive performance behind the service line, however, hitting nine service aces on the night. Molly Tuozzo finished with four, Lamb and DeLeye each had a pair, and Wilson had one.

After the game, Louisville head coach Dani Busboom Kelly was impressed with her team’s ability to hold on to Kentucky’s serve game and had high praise for the Cats on that part of their game.

“I think they are the best serving team in the country and that was a big concern for me before this game.”

Defensively, Tuozzo continued to impress in the libero jersey, making 17 saves, the most on her team, while Eleanor Beavin contributed 13, Emma Grome nine and Wilson six.

Despite the loss, UK head coach Craig Skinner was disappointed with the result but was encouraged by his team’s positive performance against another top-five team.

“You either get better or you get worse. Our job is to work at a faster pace and put our energy into the areas where we need improvement,” Skinner said. “We’ve made great progress.”

With this loss, Kentucky falls to 6-4 on the year. They next travel to Palo Alto, California, to face No. 2 Stanford. First serve against the Cardinal is scheduled for 10:30 p.m. ET and will be broadcast live on ESPN2.