Kansas City, MO. – Eva Hudson watched as her teammate Cassie O’Brien set the ball into the left side of the net. Hudson’s eyes closed as he lifted his legs off the ground. Pulling her hand back, the 6-foot-1 Kentucky senior fired the volleyball over the net.
It’s match point in the fifth set of the NCAA women’s college volleyball semifinals between No. 1 seed Kentucky and No. 3 seed Wisconsin. After winning the second and fourth sets, Kentucky is one point away from advancing to the national championship round.
At a packed T-Mobile Center, the sound of Hudson’s palm slapping the volleyball echoed across the court. Two Wisconsin defenders rose above the net with their arms to block the shot, but Hudson’s power was too much for even the best defenders in the country.
The Badgers blocked the shot from going out of bounds.
Hudson raised his arms in the air and the entire arena erupted in cheers from the crowd. His Wildcats ran out to meet him at center court. While celebrating, Hudson fell to the ground along with her teammates.
Hudson’s career-high 29 kills led the Wildcats to the national championship against No. 3 seed Texas A&M. One of the best hitters in the country, Hudson has been preparing for this moment since she put on the blue and white jersey.
a year agoAfter leading the Big Ten with 567 kills and 4.81 kills per set in 2024, the 20-year-old outside hitter entered the transfer portal after three seasons at Purdue. Kentucky and Hudson announced that she would spend her final year of eligibility as a Wildcat.
Santa came early, and he brought us another wildcat‼️
Welcome home, Eva Hudson!@evahud12 x #WeAreUK pic.twitter.com/8K9C7oELGQ
– Kentucky Volleyball (@KentuckyVB) 23 December 2024
Kentucky head coach Craig Skinner immediately knew what impact the power hitter would have on the team.
“She is an extremely talented player who adds a dynamic level of offense to our offense,” Skinner, who led the Wildcats to their first national title in 2020, said in a statement at the time of her transfer. “He also has a lot of tools in his game that will help us compete for a championship in 2025.”
Hudson knew that by transferring to Kentucky she would be able to win a national championship. Under Skinner’s leadership, Hudson said he is confident the coaching staff will push him and his teammates to their potential.
“Iron sharpens iron like iron,” Hudson said.
Hudson wasted no time in showing the SEC that she was one of the top volleyball hitters in the country. With 533 kills and 4.595 kills per set, Hudson was named SEC Player of the Year, SEC Newcomer of the Year and first-team All-SEC. Before leading his team to the national championship game, he was named a finalist for the 2025 AVCA Player of the Year Award. The powerhouse hitter along with his teammates led the Wildcats to a 30-2 season. Now, it’s just another game to claim it all.
Hudson said that from the moment she joined the Wildcats, she knew her new team would be on the biggest stage in women’s college volleyball.
“As soon as we got into the season, and like, immediately, we clicked. We had three new transfers, three new freshmen. The girls who had been on the team before were very welcoming. Literally, our first practice together. We all just started clicking,” Hudson said. “I knew from the beginning we had something special. Now, it’s all about execution.”
Despite the pressure to live up to his hype at Kentucky, Hudson emphasized his team’s ability to remember that “it’s just a game.” To relieve some of that pressure during the NCAA Tournament, Hudson and his teammates began drawing smiley faces on their hands or somewhere visible to remind them to “play with joy.”
“Some of the best times in volleyball and when we’re playing really well are when we’re all playing with joy and getting off of each other,” Hudson said.
in the beginning In the semi-finals against the Badgers, Hudson struggled to find his rhythm. With the Wildcats losing the first set of the night, facing their largest margin of loss in a set since 2018, Hudson looked at the smiley face written on her left arm and responded with four kills in the red zone to solidify Kentucky’s 25–22 second set victory.
“At every single timeout, everyone will be like, ‘Okay, now tap your smiley face,'” Hudson said. “It’s just a good reminder that at the end of the day, it’s still a game. And I look back to little Eva when she came into this game and was playing it because it was fun, and I was having fun.”
But by the fourth set, after trailing Wisconsin by a set, Hudson revealed why she was so powerful on the court. With nine kills in the fourth set, Hudson found her groove.
“We were a little nervous, we didn’t know what to expect in the first set,” Hudson said. “By the fourth and fifth, we found that rhythm…just going away. I knew my guys behind me were covering.”
From the sidelines, Hudson’s mother, Stacey, watched her daughter make Face in the Fourth Set – Hudson’s face is when she is set and refuses to let any obstacle come in her way.
“My mom always says I set my jaw when I wanted to, even when I was little, and that’s a sign that I’m not going to let anything stop me,” Hudson said. “And at that moment, I knew my teammates were rallying behind me. We weren’t as nervous as we were at the beginning of the match. I could bring more intensity.”
For the Badgers, despite having a high hitting percentage for the night, there was a notable change with Hudson – a change they were not prepared for even at this stage.
“Hudson came out of the phone booth wearing a cape,” Wisconsin head coach Kelly Sheffield said. “We knew where this was going. It doesn’t matter.”
As their match reached the fifth set, Hudson remembered stopping after the fourth set and looking her teammates in the eyes. The blink-and-you-miss-it eye contact sparked joy for Hudson and reminded her to stay in the moment. Hudson said this gave confidence not only to him but to his teammates as well.
Blocking out the noise of the crowd and the opposing team, Hudson looked at his teammates and said, “I got you. We got this.”
