Volleyball Travels to Fayetteville for First SEC Road Trip
Friday, September 26, 2008 | Volleyball
Coming off a successful first weekend in Southeastern Conference play, the No. 10/10 Florida volleyball team heads West to Fayetteville, Ark., for its first league road trip of the season against Arkansas. Opening serve between the Gators and Razorbacks is set for 8 p.m. EDT Friday at Barnhill Arena and the match will be carried live on ROCK 104 with Tom Collett.
The Gators (8-1, 2-0 SEC) defeated Georgia and LSU this past weekend in the Stephen C. O'Connell Center. Freshman outside hitter Colleen Ward (Naperville, Ill.) was named the SEC Freshman of the Week for her strong performances in those two matches, as she led Florida with 3.57 kills per set and 31 totla points. She hit .385 for the weekend and was second on the team in digs per set with 1.86. She also recorded a career-high and team-leading 15 kills vs. LSU on Sunday.
Florida is one of four teams in the SEC Eastern Division that went undefeated in the past weekend of play. The Gators are the top serving team in the league, averaging 1.81 service aces per set.
“To win a title, you have to be able to win on the road,” Florida head coach Mary Wise said. “Obviously, based on the first weekend, it's not easy to do in this league. I do believe we are a better team today than we were a week ago, and we are doing some things much better than we did two years ago, so the timing helps. We have had two weeks of good practice before playing on the road.”
Redshirt freshman outside hitter/right side Kristy Jaeckel (Littleton, Colo.), a two-time SEC Freshman of the Week selection, leads the way for the Gators, averaging 3.47 kills per set, which ranks fourth in the conference. Ward and freshman right-side/setter Kelly Murphy (Wilmington, Ill.) each follow with 2.72 kills per set apiece.
Junior libero Elyse Cusack (Melrose, Fla.) heads Florida's back-row effort, averaging 4.22 digs per set, which ranks third in the SEC. Cusack also is third in the league and 31st in the nation in service aces with 0.50 aces per set.
Florida and Arkansas meet for the 27th time in the history of the two programs. The Gators lead the all-time series 24-2 after first meeting the Razorbacks during the 1994 season when they added volleyball to their athletics program. From 1995-99, Florida and Arkansas met annually to decide the SEC Tournament title.
The Razorbacks enter Friday's match with a 4-7 record, although Arkansas won its only SEC match of the season with a 3-2 win against Auburn last Friday night. Senior outside hitter Christina Lawrence paced the Razorbacks to the win with 16 kills, one shy of her career high, on .314 hitting. Of the 11 matches that Arkansas has played this season, eight have gone the minimum of three sets.
Freshman outside hitter Kelli Stipanovich has had an outstanding rookie campaign so far this season, averaging a squad-best 3.12 kills per set and has recorded double-figure kills in six consecutive matches. Senior middle blocker Yun Tang is the SEC's leading blocker, averaging 1.41 rejections per set. Redshirt freshman libero Phoebe Bautista is the team's digs leader, averaging 3.72 scoops per set, which ranks seventh in the SEC. The Razorbacks are under the direction of first-year head coach Robby Pulliza, formerly the associate head coach at Kentucky.
Complete results and a recap of Friday's match will be available at www.GatorZone.com.
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