LEXINGTON, Ky. — The third-ranked Kentucky volleyball team defeated UCLA in straight sets Wednesday, improving to 3-0 on the season with a dominant performance that combined elite serving and efficient offensive execution.

Playing in the inaugural SEC/Big Ten Challenge at Historic Memorial Coliseum, the Wildcats dominated from start to finish. Kentucky recorded seven aces in the match, with five coming in the opening set alone to secure a 25-13 victory. Brynn Covell, Brooklyn DeLeye and setter Kassie O'Brien each contributed two aces, while Trinity Ward added one.

"It was a clean night serving," head coach Craig Skinner said. "Even though our short serve didn't score a ton of points, it's nice to have them thinking about it. We might be able to drop in some shorts and get them guessing about our depth."

The Wildcats' offensive output proved equally impressive. Kentucky hit .346 for the match, highlighted by a .469 performance in the second set where they recorded 19 kills on 32 swings with only four errors. The Cats added 19 more kills in the third set to close out the sweep.

Three pin hitters — Morgan Gaerte, DeLeye and Asia Thigpen — all hit above .300, while middle blocker Lizzy Carr produced a .580 hitting percentage. O'Brien, in her second season as setter, efficiently distributed the offense throughout the match.

"I feel like that's what you want on a team," O'Brien said. "You want to be able to go to anyone at a given point and just to see all of our attackers just going off in this game is so cool because it shows us what we have on our team."

Kentucky's victory marked the second time the Wildcats have defeated UCLA this year. The teams met in the NCAA Tournament Second Round last December, with Kentucky earning a 3-1 victory to advance to the Sweet 16.

The Wildcats look to extend their winning streak Sunday when they travel to Chicago to face Penn State at Wrigley Field in a historic outdoor match as part of the SEC/Big Ten Challenge.