No. 1 Gators Host Tennessee on ESPNU
Tuesday, October 19, 2010 | Volleyball
The No. 1 University of Florida volleyball team continues its five-match homestand on Wednesday when it plays host to Southeastern Conference foe No. 21 Tennessee in a nationally televised showdown on ESPNU. Opening serve in the Stephen C. O'Connell Center is slated for 8 p.m. ET. Beth Mowins and Elizabeth Moreau will have the call for ESPNU and the match also will air on WRUF Sports Radio 850 with Tom Collett and Missy Whittemore.
Wednesday is Faculty and Staff Night, and all UF faculty and staff receive free admission to the match by showing their valid Gator1 ID. It is also Green Gators Night – In coordination with the UF Office of Sustainability and Neutral Gator, fans will learn how to go green. Fans are encouraged to take alternative transportation to the match and the first 200 fans will receive Publix/Desire Street Ministry reusable bags.
The Florida women's basketball team will be signing autographs from 7-8 p.m. prior to the start of the match and 1,000 volleyball fans will receive a coupon good for free admission to the women's basketball home opener vs. UCF on Nov. 12.
The Gators (16-1, 9-0 SEC) boast an 11-match win streak that includes six three-set sweeps during that span. Florida leads the SEC in both blocks per set (2.66) and service aces per set (1.76), and is the only team to have three players rank among the league's top-10 individually in service aces.
As a team, the Gators are among the nation's top-25 in both service aces per set and blocks per set, ranking 19th nationally in aces per set and 22nd nationally in blocks per set.
Florida head coach Mary Wise, who is in her 24th season as a collegiate head coach, features an impressive career record of 700-131 (.842). In her 20th year at Florida, Wise has a record of 619-68 (.901), having led the Gators to a nation-leading 619 wins since the start of the 1991 campaign. Wise is the 16th winningest coach in NCAA Division I women's volleyball history and the eighth-winningest active coach in Division I women's volleyball.
“We have a great opportunity on Wednesday for our program and the sport of women's volleyball to play on a national stage with ESPNU,” Wise said. “What we hope to do is take the things that made us better from this past weekend and build on them. Wednesday night will be a great match in that Tennessee always plays its best volleyball in the second half of the SEC season and they have two of the premier offensive players in the league. They always get better and better as the year goes on and I think that's a testament to great coaching.”
Florida currently is in first place in the SEC race with 11 league matches remaining. The Gators have a 9-0 conference record, while LSU and Ole Miss are tied for second place with 8-2 SEC records. Tennessee is in fourth place with a 7-3 conference tally.
Junior right-side/setter Kelly Murphy (Wilmington, Ill.) is the reigning SEC Offensive Player of the Week, having become just the 29th player in school history to record her 1,000th career point last Friday against Auburn. Murphy, who has five triple-doubles this season and a school-record 20 triple-doubles for her career, ranks ninth in the SEC with 3.21 kills per set on a .376 hitting efficiency, which ranks third in the league. Murphy also is third in the SEC with 0.34 service aces per set. She is the only player in the SEC to rank in the league's top-10 in kills per set, hitting percentage and service aces per set simultaneously.
Junior outside hitter Kristy Jaeckel (Littleton, Colo.) and senior outside hitter Callie Rivers (Winter Park, Fla.) follow with 2.50 and 2.16 kills per set, respectively. Rivers is fourth in the SEC with 0.33 service aces per set and ranks second on Florida's team with 2.41 digs per set.
Senior libero Erin Fleming (Orlando, Fla.) heads Florida's back-row play, ranking eighth in the SEC with 3.71 digs per set, while freshman setter Chanel Brown (Tempe, Ariz.) averages 5.42 assists per set.
Three Florida players average better than 0.85 blocks per set, led by junior middle blocker Cassandra Anderson (Bakersfield, Calif.), who ranks fourth in the SEC with 1.16 blocks per set. Senior middle blocker Lauren Bledsoe (Long Beach, Calif.) is 10th in the league with 1.00 blocks per set, while sophomore right-side Tangerine Wiggs (Seattle, Wash.) adds 0.87 blocks per set.
The Gators and Lady Vols meet for the 51st time in the history of the two programs, marking the third-longest rivalry in UF school history. UF leads the all-time series 41-9, including a 37-4 tally under Wise's direction. The Gators hold a 22-4 edge when the match is played in Gainesville. Last season, the two squads split a pair of matches, while Florida posted a 3-1 win against Tennessee on Sept. 19 earlier this season in Knoxville.
Tennessee enters Wednesday's match with a 15-4 overall record and a 7-3 league mark, ranking second in the SEC Eastern Division and fourth in the overall conference race. The Lady Vols have won six of their last seven matches, including a pair of sweeps against Mississippi State and Alabama at home last weekend. Tennessee has been nationally ranked all season long and checks in at No. 21 this week. The Lady Vols are 12th in this week's RPI ratings.
The Lady Vols are led offensively by senior outside hitter Nikki Fowler, who ranks third in the SEC with 3.78 kills per set. Junior outside hitter Kayla Jeter and sophomore middle blocker DeeDee Harrison follow with 3.13 and 2.10 kills per set, respectively. Senior middle blocker Leah Hinkey, who had 19 kills against the Gators on Sept. 19, is sixth in the SEC with a .348 hitting efficiency, while adding 1.83 kills per set.
Junior setter Kelsey Mahoney, who did not play in the first match-up between the two teams this season, ranks eighth in the SEC with 6.52 assists per set, while Hinkey ranks sixth in the conference with 1.09 blocks per set. Freshman Kelsey Robinson leads the team's back-row effort, ranking ninth in the SEC with 3.48 digs per set.
Complete results and a recap of Wednesday's match will be available at GatorZone.com.
For all of the latest information on Florida volleyball, please log on to www.GatorZone.com/volleyball. Follow Florida Volleyball on Twitter at www.twitter.com/GatorZoneVB and Coach Mary Wise on Twitter at www.twitter.com/GatorMary.
QUICK NOTES
· The Gators are ranked No. 1 in the nation for the second consecutive week and for just the seventh time in program history. The Gators were ranked No. 1 for five consecutive polls during the 1996 season. UF holds a record of 14-1 all-time when playing as the nation's top-ranked team.
· Florida head coach Mary Wise, in her 24th season as a collegiate head coach and her 20th directing the Gators, became just the 16th NCAA Division I women's volleyball coach ever to pick up her 700th career victory. Wise is 700-131 (.842) in her 24th season as a Division I head coach with her first four seasons coming at Iowa State from 1981-84, where she tallied a record of 81-63 (.563). Wise is the 16th winningest NCAA Division I volleyball head coach all-time and the eighth-winningest active coach.
· Florida's 619 wins since the start of the 1991 campaign are the most of any team in the nation during that time period.
· The 2010 campaign marks the 27th season of Florida volleyball (beginning 1984). The Gators are 775-168 (.821) all-time in program history.
· The Gators lead the SEC (all matches combined) in both blocks per set (2.66) and service aces per set (1.76). Florida is the only team in the SEC to have three players rank in the league's top-10 individually in service aces.
· Junior right-side/setter Kelly Murphy is the reigning Southeastern Conference Offensive Player of the Week, earning that honor for the fifth time in her career and third time this season. Last Friday vs. Auburn, Murphy became just the 29th player in program history to eclipse the 1,000-point plateau. She currently has 1,023.5 points through 79 career matches.
· Murphy leads the nation with five triple-doubles so far this season and has a school-record 20 triple-dips in her Florida career.
· Murphy currently ranks ninth on Florida's all-time career assists list with 1,711 career dishes. Accomplishing that in just 79 career matches is an impressive feat, considering she has spent all but six matches of her collegiate career setting in just three rotations as part of a 6-2 offensive scheme.
· Junior outside hitter Kristy Jaeckel is just the 20th player in school history to reach 2,000 career attack and now has 2,122 career attacks through 78 career matches, which ranks 18th all-time in UF school history.
