2007 Season Preview: VB Hits The Road To Open Season For First Time Since 2003
Thursday, August 23, 2007 | Volleyball
It's been four years since the University of Florida volleyball team has opened a season on the road, but it will do just that on Friday when it meets Illinois State in Normal, Ill., to kick off the 24th season of Gator volleyball. On Sunday, two of the most storied programs in college volleyball history will square off when Florida makes its first trip to South Bend, Ind., since 1997 to take on Notre Dame.
Both contests will be televised by Sun Sports and broadcast over the radio waves on WRUF-AM 850 and www.GatorZone.com.
2007 Florida Season Preview
Not much has changed for the University of Florida volleyball team in the course of a year. All seven starters return from the 2006 squad that won the program's 16th-consecutive Southeastern Conference championship and advanced to the NCAA regional semifinal for the 15th time in the last 16 seasons. UF returns more than 90 percent of its points, kills, assists and blocks from a year ago. Above all, the Gators return to the court with the goal of winning a national title.
Florida's foundation as it makes a run toward the accomplishment of that ultimate goal will be one of the deepest, most talented senior classes that head coach Mary Wise has ever fielded. The four-player class has been a part of 91 victories at Florida, amassing a 45-4 record at the Stephen C. O'Connell Center during that time, and has combined to earn six All-America honors. Having a talented senior class is a proven ingredient for success in collegiate sports, and Marcie Hampton, Kisya Killingsworth, Amber McCray and Angie McGinnis will give the Gators exactly that in 2007.
Not all of the responsibility will fall on the shoulders of Florida's four seniors, however, as UF's nucleus also features a junior and a pair of sophomores who each appeared in at least 30 matches a season ago. The Gators' young core has also picked up its share of accolades, including Southeastern Conference Defensive Player of the Year honors, an AVCA All-South Region selection and multiple All-SEC nods. With three true freshmen in attacking positions, Florida's newcomers also have the chance to be major point-scorers this season.
Guiding the Orange and Blue through the 2007 season will be one of the top coaching staffs in the nation in Wise, associate head coach Nick Cheronis, assistant coach Ryan Theis and volunteer assistant and former Gator All-American Jenny (Manz) Theis. With top-notch coaching and a roster brimming with talent, Florida is ready to take its familiar place among the national title contenders this fall.
Setter
Angie McGinnis 5-11 SR Fraser, Mich.
Alli Cecchini 5-11 SO Brentwood, Calif.
Armed with a competitive fire and the rare ability to make the players around her better, McGinnis is poised for another historic season in 2007. An all-around player with the skills to set, block and attack, she will once again be the catalyst of the Florida offense. Cecchini, another all-around player with the ability to play multiple positions, returns in the support role with a full season of college volleyball under her belt.
A year after becoming the first setter in league history to earn SEC Player of the Year honors, McGinnis brings her elite setting skills and court presence to the Florida lineup once more in 2007. A two-time All-American who has played in 102 career matches at UF, McGinnis translates her experience into the ability to seemingly remain a step ahead of the action. She owns 12 school records for setters after just three years of play, and is on the verge of cementing herself as the greatest setter in school history, as she needs just 556 assists to break Heidi Anderson's 15-year old school record (4,855).
Sophomore Alli Cecchini returns in the backup setter role after spending the past summer with the USA Junior National A2 Team. She played in 32 of the team's 33 matches last season, averaging more than two digs per game in a primarily defensive role, and owns a multi-faceted game that allows the coaching staff to use her in a variety of positions.
Left-Side Hitter
Marcie Hampton 6-1 SR Gainesville, Fla.
Janine Williams 6-0 R-FR Gainesville, Fla.
Callie Rivers 6-0 FR Winter Park, Fla.
Kristy Jaeckel 6-2 FR Littleton, Colo.
Already an elite-level talent, Hampton spent the summer of 2007 honing her skills with U.S. National Team. The Gators' best passer and one of their top offensive threats, Hampton will be the steadying influence for a group of young, but deep, left-side hitters. Williams, Rivers and Jaeckel will all compete for the starting spot alongside Hampton.
One of the most difficult things in volleyball is to be able to both pass and terminate, but Hampton has done both on a routine basis since arriving at UF. One of just seven players in school history with 1,000 career digs and kills, and the only Florida player ever to record 300 digs in each of her first three seasons, she has been one of the Gators' most exciting players to watch in recent years. The spring season saw Hampton take her game to another level, as she displayed the ability to score points both in and out-of-system.
The biggest question facing Wise and her staff heading into the season centers upon who will join Hampton in the starting lineup on the left side. With more than a year in the program, redshirt freshman Janine Williams possesses strength that few freshmen in the country can mimic. Freshman Callie Rivers, who arrived on campus as the nation's 13th-ranked high school player, has upside, while classmate Kristy Jaeckel's experience with the U.S. Junior National A2 Team will aid in her transition to the speed of the college game.
Middle Blocker
Kisya Killingsworth 6-3 SR Deltona, Fla.
Kelsey Bowers 6-2 JR Gainesville, Fla.
Kristina Johnson 6-2 SO Indianapolis, Ind.
For the second year in a row, one of the biggest strengths of the Florida volleyball team lies in the middle, where each of the Gators' options has the talent to start. One twist in 2007 is that each of the three brings a different game to the court, making the UF middle a tricky matchup for any defense. Killingsworth already has an All-America honor to her credit, while Bowers and Johnson are both poised to make a run at their own accolades.
With senior Kisya Killingsworth, a 2006 NCAA Regional All-Tournament Team selection, in the middle, the Gators have the unique luxury of playing one of the country's most multi-talented athletes in the middle of the court. The complete package of quickness, power and leaping ability, Killingsworth moved to the middle in 2005 and has piled up the accolades ever since.
A natural blocker with elite hitting skills from behind the setter, junior Kelsey Bowers earned second-team All-SEC honors as a first-year starter in 2006. She is one of the team's quickest players, and worked hard in the spring at scoring points in front of the setter. Another in UF's long line of athletic middle blockers, Kristina Johnson is on pace to become one of the strongest players ever to wear a Florida uniform. She earned a spot on the SEC All-Freshman team in 2006, and has yet to hit the ceiling of her potential.
Opposite Hitter
Amber McCray 6-0 SR Longview, Texas
Lauren Bledsoe 6-2 FR Long Beach, Calif.
The ultimate comeback story, McCray earned second-team All-America honors in 2006 - just two years after seriously injuring her ACL. Her ability to provide a consistent point-scoring presence will be key as the Gators' young players adjust to the college game. The coaching staff feels that Bledsoe has the capability to maintain Florida's tradition of excellent opposite hitters.
Aside from her point-scoring prowess, the most valuable attribute McCray brings to the table for UF is her experience, as she is the only active player from the 2003 team that finished as the NCAA runner-up. McCray's work ethic will leave a lasting impression on the program both on and off the court, having earned her ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District III honors twice.
Bledsoe was ranked as the nation's No. 26 high school player as a senior, and she has the chance to see significant playing time in her initial collegiate season. A right-handed, athletic player with excellent blocking skills, Bledsoe will benefit from spending a year as the primary alternative to McCray.
Libero/Defensive Specialist
Elyse Cusack 5-9 SO Melrose, Fla.
Christina Diaz 5-6 SO Hollywood, Fla.
Erin Fleming 5-10 FR Orlando, Fla.
Cusack is coming off of a record-breaking freshman campaign in which she collected SEC Defensive Player of the Year honors and was an AVCA All-South Region pick. With three years of eligibility remaining, she has positioned herself to become one of the country's top liberos. Diaz and Fleming will be counted upon to provide solid service and defensive play in a backup role.
Sophomore Elyse Cusack's first season in a UF uniform was one for ages, as she set the SEC record for digs per game (5.52) and broke the school's four-game match record with 46 digs against LSU en route to compiling a list of postseason honors. Her ability to combine elite passing skills with the talent to defend and cover hitters make Cusack an indispensable part of the Florida lineup.
With the graduation of Rhian Davis, the Gators will look to Diaz and Fleming to score points with their serves. Diaz has earned playing time since her arrival in Gainesville due to her strong service game, while Fleming was a 2006 high school All-American and has experience in pressure situations.
Schedule
Take a grueling 20-match SEC schedule that includes 12 contests against teams that played in the 2006 NCAA Championships; add a non-conference slate against teams that won more than 60 percent of their matches last season and earned four NCAA Tournament bids. What is the result? Nothing out of the ordinary for Florida, which has made a long-standing tradition of playing some of the nation's best competition, both at home and on the road.
For the second-straight year, a Final Four berth will be on the line in Gainesville, as UF will host one of four NCAA Regionals at the Stephen C. O'Connell Center from Dec. 7-8. Florida's Regional hosting assignment is its third in the last five years, and the ninth in school history.
Florida's non-conference schedule will take it away from Gainesville for three of its first seven matches, while also sending the team to the opposite coast to wrap up the campaign. A roster stocked with experienced players made the slate appealing to Wise, who will look to those matches to aid in UF's preparation for a postseason run.
The Gators will kick the season off with road matches against Illinois State and Notre Dame on Aug. 24 and 26, respectively. After its first season-opening road trip since 2003, Florida will return home to host the Campus USA Credit Union Invitational from Aug. 31-Sept. 1. Georgia Southern, North Carolina State and Santa Clara will make their way to the O'Connell Center for the Gators' lone home tournament of the campaign. A home matchup with Florida State is scheduled for Sept. 5 before UF travels to Salt Lake City to take on Utah prior to the start of league play.
Florida's schedule will not get any easier once the conference season gets underway, as 12 of the Gators' 20 league matches will pit them against NCAA Tournament teams from a year ago. A conference-record seven teams from the SEC earned postseason bids in 2006, a figure that tied for most in the nation. The 2007 season will also mark the second year of the league's double round-robin format, meaning that UF will play each of its 10 SEC foes twice on its quest for a 17th-consecutive conference championship.
Florida will conclude the regular season with a cross-country trip to Long Beach, Calif., where the 49ers of Long Beach State will host Florida and Yale over Thanksgiving weekend.
With one of the nation's premier senior classes and a talented supporting cast, the Gators' 2007 season should prove to be one of the most exciting in recent memory. It will be filled with familiar faces, familiar opponents and, if everything goes to plan, the most pleasant familiar sight of all: championships.
What's Back
Returning Departed % Returning
Kills 1,769 94 95.0
Total Attempts 4,288 237 94.8
Assists 1,685 22 98.7
Service Aces 119 27 81.5
Digs 1,735 332 83.9
Block Solos 72 4 94.7
Block Assists 549 44 92.6
Points 2,234.5 147 93.8
- UF -
