No. 1 seed Kentucky Volleyball set to take on No. 3 seed Texas A&M for 2025 National Championship – Kentucky Kernel

No. 1 seed Kentucky and No. 3 seed Texas A&M will face off in the 2025 D-1 Women’s Volleyball National Championship. These are three important things to look at heading into the match.

The History-

Kentucky went on the road to defeat Texas A&M in four sets on Oct. 8. This was the only Aggies regular season conference loss.

Texas A&M hit .205% against the Wildcats, which was its second lowest mark of the season. The Aggies also totaled five blocks which ties for the second lowest in a match this season.

Kentucky had nine unassisted kills in the match vs Texas A&M, which was the most in a match all season.

The Wildcats have won its last four matchups against Texas A&M and  nine of the last 11. The Cats lead the all-time series 17-10.

This is the first time that two SEC teams have faced off in the national championship.

Kentucky is the only team to win the national championship as a member of the SEC.

The Wildcats are making their second national championship appearance in program history, it’s the first for Texas A&M.

The Stars Are Out in Kansas City-

Texas A&M was the only team with four players named to the All-SEC First Team with Ifenna Cos-Okpalla, Logan Lednicky, Kyndal Stowers and Maddie Waak.

Kentucky was the only team with three members of the All-SEC First Team in Brooklyn DeLeye, Eva Hudson and Kassie O’Brien. Kentucky also had Molly Tuozzo on the All-SEC Second Team.

Hudson, DeLeye and Cos-Okpalla were all named as AVCA First-Team All-Americans. O’Brien, Lednecky and Stowers were named to the AVCA All-American Second Team. Tuozzo and Waak made the AVCA All-American Third Team

Kentucky is led by the 2020-21 AVCA National Coach of the Year Craig Skinner. Kentucky’s head coach was named the 2025 SEC Coach of the Year, his seventh time earning that title.

The 2025 AVCA Coach of the Year, Jamie Morrison, is the head coach of the Aggies.

Path to the National Championship-

Kentucky has not lost in three months and 11 days. The Wildcats last loss came against Pitt on Sept. 10. Since then the Cats have won 27 straight matches.

Along the way, Kentucky picked up its ninth consecutive regular season conference title, won the first SEC postseason tournament in 20 years and made the second national championship appearance in program history,

The Cats rolled through the Lexington Regional with sweeps over Cal Poly and No. 3 seeded Creighton. These two teams were held to a combined hitting percentage of just .086%, averaging 9.67 kills per set.

In the Final Four, Kentucky took down No. 3 Wisconsin in five sets. Wisconsin led in many important stats such as kills, assists and digs. Despite this, Kentucky won the match to advance to the national championship.

Since losing to Kentucky, Texas A&M is 16-1 with that loss coming against Texas in the SEC Tournament semi-final. 

The Aggies have taken down three teams ranked top-10 in the AVCA poll, reaching the national championship with wins over No. 9 Louisville, No. 4 Pittsburgh and No. 1 Nebraska.

Nebraska and Pitt were both No. 1 seeds in the NCAA Tournament, which made Texas A&M just the third No. 3 seed to eliminate two No. 1 seeds.

Texas A&M’s last two wins were over the only two teams to beat Kentucky this season.

The championship match will take place inside the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Missouri on Sunday, Dec. 21 at 3:30 p.m. ET.