No. 5/5 Volleyball Returns Home to Face Mississippi State
Thursday, September 24, 2009 | Volleyball
| GATOR MATCH-DAY VS. MISSISSIPPI STATE | |
| FLORIDA | MISSISSIPPI STATE |
The No. 5/5 Florida volleyball returns home for its first match in the Stephen C. O'Connell Center since Aug. 31, when the Gators play host to Mississippi State on Friday evening. Opening serve is set for 7 p.m. ET and the match will be carried live on GatorVision Online and ROCK 104 FM with Tom Collett and Missy Whittemore.
Friday's match is City of Gainesville Night, as admission is free to all Gainesville city residents who present a valid driver's license with a Gainesville residential address at the marketing table outside of Gate 1 of the O'Connell Center. Free admission passes will be granted at that marketing table, as licenses will not be accepted at the turnstile. Children and youth 17 and under receive free admission to all regular-season home matches.
Friday's match also features Pepsi Pack the Dome, as the first 200 fans receive insulated drawstring backpacks.
The Gators (8-1, 2-0 Southeastern Conference) are back in the O'Connell Center following a three-week, six-match road swing that saw the team post a 5-1 record, including wins against No. 11 Stanford, Pacific, and South Florida. Florida went 2-0 in its opening week of SEC competition this past weekend, defeating Ole Miss and Arkansas on the road.
“This team is very much looking forward to getting back to playing at home Friday night,” Florida head coach Mary Wise said. “We asked a lot of our team to go three weekends in a row on the road and it wasn't an easy road trip. I think we will benefit from having played those six matches on the road.”
Florida is led offensively by sophomore outside hitter Colleen Ward (Naperville, Ill.), who ranks sixth in the SEC in kills per set with 3.40. Sophomore outside hitter Kristy Jaeckel (Littleton, Colo.) is 10th in the SEC with 3.09 kills per set, while sophomore right-side/setter Kelly Murphy (Wilmington, Ill.) adds 2.77 put-downs per frame.
Murphy also is seventh in the league in assists per set with 5.97 and has recorded two triple-doubles so far this season. She is the only player in the SEC so far this year to have notched a triple-double.
Sophomore middle blocker Cassandra Anderson (Bakersfield, Calif.) is fifth in the SEC in blocks per set with 1.14, while senior libero Elyse Cusack (Melrose, Fla.) is third in the conference in digs with 4.26 scoops per set.
Cusack moved into No. 3 all-time on the SEC's career digs list last Friday at Ole Miss and needs 254 more digs to tie former Kentucky standout Jenni Casper (2003-06) for second-place on the all-time league digs chart.
Florida leads the all-time series between the two schools 34-0, including a perfect 25-0 mark under Wise's direction. The Gators, who are 16-0 all-time vs. the Bulldogs when the match is played in Gainesville, hold an impressive 102-3 record all-time in sets played against Mississippi State.
The Bulldogs enter Friday's match with a 4-9 record overall, including an 0-2 mark in SEC play. Last weekend, Mississippi State dropped a 3-0 decision to Auburn before falling to Georgia in four sets at home last Sunday. The Bulldogs have been hampered by the loss of sophomore middle blocker Mandy Mellencamp, who sustained a torn ACL and MCL on Sept. 4. Mellencamp started each of the team's 31 matches last season.
Mississippi State is under the direction of first-year head coach Jenny (Head) Hazelwood, who played for the school from 1996-99 and set the program's career record for assists with 5,505, then fourth-most in SEC history. Hazelwood joins with nine years of collegiate head coaching experience, including the last two at Austin Peay.
Junior middle blocker Ashley Newsome leads the team and ranks seventh in the SEC in kills per set with 3.40. Senior Ioana Demian follows with 2.69 kills per set, while sophomore outside/right-side hitter Caitlin Rance adds 2.12 put-downs per set. Junior libero Kayla Woodard averages a squad-best 4.23 digs per set to lead the team's defensive effort.
Complete results and a recap of Friday's match will be available at www.GatorZone.com.
For all of the latest information on Florida Volleyball, please log on to www.GatorZone.com/volleyball. Follow the Gators on Twitter at www.twitter.com/GatorZoneVB and Coach Mary Wise on Twitter at www.twitter.com/GatorMary.
The University of Florida is home to the 2009 NCAA Volleyball Regional. For ticket information, log on to www.GatorZone.com/tickets.
QUICK NOTES
- Florida and Mississippi State meet for the 35th time in the history of the two programs with the Gators leading the all-time series 34-0, including a 15-0 mark under the direction of head coach Mary Wise.
- The Gators hold an impressive 102-3 record in sets played against the Bulldogs in the all-time series.
- Florida's 586 wins since 1991 are the most of any team in the nation during that time period.
- The Gators were picked in a vote by the SEC's 11 head coaches to win their 19th consecutive league championship during the 2009 campaign.
- Senior libero Elyse Cusack is the school's all-time digs leader with 1,783 career scoops and ranks third all-time in SEC history for career digs.
- Cusack looks to become just the third player in league history to eclipse 2,000 career digs.
- Sophomore right-side/setter Kelly Murphy has two triple-doubles this season to lead the SEC and holds the Florida career record in that category with eight.
END OF REPORT
