‘This is who we want.’ Transfer Morgan Gaerte UK volleyball’s top portal priority
As Craig Skinner tells it, Kentucky volleyball was only ever interested in former Notre Dame outside hitter Morgan Gaerte when the transfer portal window opened this past winter.
Fresh off its second-ever NCAA national championship match appearance — and first since the program’s national title win in 2020-21 — Kentucky’s lone senior goodbye was 2025 SEC Player of the Year and first-team All-America outside hitter Eva Hudson.
Though UK also lost middle blockers Brooke Bultema (Louisville) and Jordyn Dailey (Pittsburgh), and setter Ava Sarafa (UCLA) to the transfer portal, its incoming freshman class of outside hitter Bellamie Beus and defensive specialist Sidney Burley are valuable additions to the program.
But if Kentucky were going to build on the momentum of last season, Skinner said, the true “priority” became replacing Hudson’s high-octane offensive production.
“Knowing that we’re losing Eva Hudson, the offensive production, it became a priority,” Skinner said. “’How are we going to fill those points?’ Really, Morgan was really the only person that we seriously pursued in the portal. We knew there was a reciprocal interest once it opened, and so it was a few phone calls, and it was, ‘This is who we want, we’re going all in to get Morgan in the program.’ And she felt a reciprocal interest and wanted to come.”
In just two seasons at Notre Dame, Gaerte separated herself as one of the best players in the ACC; the Angola, Indiana, native entered college as one of the top-ranked prospects in her class and was named to the 2024 ACC All-Academic Team during her rookie season.
While playing primarily on the left side of the net, Gaerte had a breakout year in 2025 as a sophomore, starting in each of the Fighting Irish’s 28 matches and registering a modern-era record (2008-present) 497 kills on the year as a captain. She averaged a program-record 4.64 kills per set and recorded 183 digs, 68 total blocks and 36 aces.
Hudson, who primarily played outside hitter on the right side of the net for Kentucky last year, recorded 546 kills on the season at a rate of 4.59 kills per set and registered 280 digs, 49 total blocks and 16 aces.
During Gaerte’s tenure, Notre Dame finished with a combined record of 24-33 over two seasons; she has not yet made the NCAA Tournament or contended for a conference championship in her collegiate career.
Kentucky has not missed an NCAA Tournament in 21 seasons under Craig Skinner and has won at least a partial share of the past nine SEC regular season titles.
Now in Lexington and having worked with her new teammates this spring, Gaerte has embraced a new role on the right side, which Skinner said he believes is the best choice for both parties.
“For both Kentucky and Morgan, the right side for her is a position that she can play at a really high level for a long time,” Skinner said. “And so we started the transition this year, and it’s not like she’s never hit over there, but she hasn’t played a long period of time over there. Started the transition this spring, and there were some amazing moments, both in matches and in practice, and some learning moments at the same time. But she’s such a physical presence, blocking and scoring over there. It’s very hard to defend a player that hits at that contact point on the right side of the net.”
The 2025 All-ACC first-teamer and AVCA All-America honorable mention selection will, like Hudson the year before her, do her best to make up the other half of the two-headed dragon alongside senior Brooklyn DeLeye, the 2024 SEC Player of the Year and 2025 AVCA first-team All American.
Gaerte and DeLeye are two of four 2025 AVCA All-America honorees on Kentucky’s 2026 season roster, joining National Freshman of the Year and second-team All-America setter Kassie O’Brien and Third-Team All-America libero senior Molly Tuozzo.
UK also returns redshirt senior middle blocker Lizzie Carr, senior defensive specialist Molly Berezowitz, junior outside hitter Asia Thigpen, junior middle blocker Kennedy Washington, redshirt sophomore outside hitter Hannah Benjamin, sophomore defensive specialist Trinity Ward and sophomore outside hitter Georgia Watson.
“They’re a very close group, they’re very encouraging of each other’s success,” Skinner said. “They are all-in for Kentucky. We’re very good at times, and we’ve got a ways to go at times.”
Kentucky’s season begins with a Final Four rematch against Wisconsin at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee at 9 p.m. on Aug. 21 as part of the AVCA First Serve showcase, a four-day event featuring each of the four 2025 NCAA Final Four teams (UK, Wisconsin, Pitt and national champion Texas A&M) as well as NCAA Tournament teams Arizona State, Louisville, Marquette, SMU, Texas and Xavier.
UK will also face Pitt at 4 p.m. Aug. 23 in the showcase. Tickets are available for purchase now.
