Gators Face No. 22 Kentucky in Top-25 Showdown
Saturday, November 15, 2008 | Volleyball
Fresh off a sweep of Tennessee on Friday night in Knoxville, Tenn., the No. 12/9 Florida volleyball team will travel to Lexington, Ky., Sunday to meet No. 22/18 Kentucky with big Southeastern Conference title implications on the line. Opening serve in Memorial Coliseum is slated for 1:30 p.m. EST and the match will be carried live on WRUF-AM 850 with Tom Collett.
Florida (21-2, 15-1 SEC) defeated Tennessee 3-0 on Friday night and freshman right-side/setter Kelly Murphy (Wilmington, Ill.) tied the school record for career triple-doubles just 23 matches into her collegiate career, finishing with a team-high 15 kills, 16 assists and 14 digs for her fourth career triple-dip. That tied former All-America setter Angie McGinnis' (2004-07) career triple-doubles record.
Sunday's match has important SEC title implications as the Gators lead the league with a 15-1 record, while Kentucky (24-4) is in second place with a 15-2 record. The Gators defeated the Wildcats in five sets on Oct. 10 in Gainesville earlier this season. Following Sunday's match, Florida has three SEC matches remaining, while Kentucky has two league tilts left.
On the season, Murphy leads the way for the Gators, averaging 3.31 kills per set on a squad-best .366 hitting percentage with a team-high 5.72 assists per set. Redshirt freshman outside hitter Kristy Jaeckel (Littleton, Colo.), who finished with 14 kills on Friday vs. UT, follows with 3.28 kills per set, while freshman outside hitter Colleen Ward (Naperville, Ill.) adds 2.36 kills per set.
Junior libero Elyse Cusack (Melrose, Fla.) heads the team's defensive effort, averaging 4.66 digs per set. She also has served a squad-best 0.42 aces per set this season. Cusack eclipsed the 20-dig mark on Friday for the eighth time this season with a match-high 22 scoops. Cusack, the school's all-time career digs leader with 1,509 career digs, became the first player in program history to top the 1,500-dig mark.
Florida and Kentucky meet for the 48th time in the history of the two programs. The Gators hold a 40-7 lead in the all-time series between the two teams, including a perfect 38-0 record under the direction of head coach Mary Wise.
Kentucky is coming off a 3-0 sweep of South Carolina on Friday night, as the Wildcats, the league's top blocking team, out-blocked the Gamecocks 12.5-4.0 in the match. Sophomore outside hitter Sarah Mendoza finished with a squad-best 12 kills and 16 digs, while junior setter Sarah Rumely dished out 29 assists, came up with seven digs and posted six blocks. Freshman middle blocker Becky Pavan charted a squad-best seven rejections.
On the season, Mendoza leads the Kentucky offense averaging a team-high 3.41 kills per set, while sophomore right-side Lauren Rapp follows with 2.94 kills per set. Pavan and fifth-year senior middle blocker Queen Nzenwa average 1.22 and 1.14 blocks per set, respectively, as both rank in the league's top five in blocking.
Complete results and a recap of Sunday's match will be available at www.GatorZone.com.
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