No. 4 VB To Battle No. 7 Louisville In NCAA Regional; Match FREE On GatorVision Online
Thursday, December 8, 2005 | Volleyball
The fourth-ranked and eighth-seeded University of Florida volleyball team will face No. 7 ranked and ninth-seeded Louisville in the NCAA Championship Omaha Regional Semifinals at 6 p.m. (ET) Friday at the Qwest Center before a crowd of at least 13,500 fans – an NCAA record.
The match will be available FREE via GatorVision Online.
Florida (32-2) will be looking to advance to the regional final for the 12th time in the last 15 seasons. The Gators will have to get past Louisville (31-2) to do so as the Cardinals stand as the highest ranked team UF has ever faced in the regional semifinals. Florida is 22-13 against ranked teams in the NCAA Championship under coach Mary Wise, including 1-0 in 2005 after beating No. 24 Kansas State 3-0 last Friday.
The Gators enter the contest on a high offensive note as Florida hit above .350 in five of its six games against K-State and Florida Atlantic in the opening two rounds of the NCAA Championship last week. UF had just 20 attack errors in 226 swings in the two matches combined as the Gators collectively hit .389.
Senior outside hitter Jane Collymore (Englewood, Colo.) and sophomore middle blocker Kisya Killingsworth (Deltona, Fla.) were the offensive stars for the Gators against the Owls and the Wildcats. Killingsworth notched a career-best 19 kills on .565 against K-State, while Collymore led all players at the sub-regional by averaging 5.33 kills per game.
Senior libero Rachel Engel (Littleton, Colo.) will step on the court Friday with 1,350 digs and needs just five to move past Roni Armeda into second place in school history for career digs. Sophomore setter Angie McGinnis (Fraser, Mich.) also has a noteworthy accomplishment on the line – with 25 assists, she'll break the record for most assists by a sophomore in UF history as she currently has 1,524.
To access Friday's match, users need to click on the GatorVision Online area on www.GatorZone.com or go to www.gatorvision.tv. The link will go live at 5:50 p.m. (ET).
Should the Gators defeat Louisville, Florida would advance to the regional final where UF would face the winner of No.1 Nebraska and No. 14 UCLA. That match will be played at 6 p.m. (ET) on Saturday and will be carried live on ESPNU. It will not be available on GatorVision Online.
Audio of any Florida matches during the weekend will also be carried on WRUF-AM 850 and www.GatorZone.com.
Ticket information can be found at www.qwestcenteromaha.com.
