No. 1 Gators Head to Athens
Thursday, November 4, 2010 | Volleyball
The No. 1 University of Florida volleyball team, riding a 15-match winning streak, travels to Athens, Ga., on Friday to take on border-rival Georgia. Opening serve in the Ramsey Student Center is slated for 7 p.m. ET and the match will be carried live on 103.7 FM The Gator with Cory Stephens.
The Gators (20-1, 13-0 Southeastern Conference) currently lead the SEC race by two matches over second-place LSU with seven matches remaining in the league schedule. Florida, which plays five of its final seven contests on the road, has posted 3-0 sweeps in eight of its last nine matches.
“To win the league, you have to win big matches on the road,” Florida head coach Mary Wise said. “That's what we hope we can do over these next few weekends – we have five of our seven matches on the road. Georgia played us very well last time by taking the first set. We expect them to play really, really well at home this Friday, so our challenge will be to go into that match focused and prepared.”
The Gators lead the SEC (all matches combined) in both blocks per set (2.65) and service aces per set (1.78). Florida is the only team in the SEC to have three players ranked among the league's top-10 individually in service aces. Florida's hitting percentage of .284 ranks 14th in the nation, while the Gators' 1.78 service aces per set average also ranks 14th nationally. UF is 21st in the NCAA in blocks per set with 2.65 on the year.
Two Florida players are reigning SEC Players of the Week as junior right-side/setter Kelly Murphy (Wilmington, Ill.) was named the SEC Offensive Player of the Week for the fourth time this season and the sixth time in her career and junior middle blocker Cassandra Anderson (Bakersfield, Calif.) was named the SEC Defensive Player of the Week for the second time in her career and the first time since Dec. 1, 2008.
Murphy leads the Gators offensively, averaging a squad-best 3.23 kills per set, which ranks eighth in the SEC (all matches combined). 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. Murphy is hitting at a .382 hitting efficiency clip, which ranks third in the conference, while leading the SEC with 0.39 service aces per set. In conference matches only, Murphy is fifth in the league with 3.53 kills per set, second in hitting percentage with a sizzling .416 clip and first in service aces with 0.49 per set.
Additionally, Murphy averages 5.43 assists per set, 2.20 digs per set and 0.68 blocks per set, charting a squad-best 3.97 points per set.
Junior outside hitter Kristy Jaeckel (Littleton, Colo.) and senior outside hitter Callie Rivers (Winter Park, Fla.) follow with 2.43 and 2.29 kills per set, respectively. Rivers ranks second in the SEC with 0.34 service aces per set and is second on the team with 2.34 digs per set. Jaeckel ranks eighth in the SEC with 0.28 service aces per set.
Freshman setter Chanel Brown (Tempe, Ariz.) dishes out a squad-best 5.47 assists per set as part of the team's 6-2 offensive scheme and, in conference matches only, is eighth in the SEC with 5.98 assists per set. Senior libero Erin Fleming (Orlando, Fla.) heads the Gators' back-row effort, ranking eighth in the SEC with 3.58 digs per set.
Three Florida players average better than 0.9 blocks per set, led by Anderson, who ranks third in the league with 1.15 blocks per set. Senior middle blocker Lauren Bledsoe (Long Beach, Calif.) follows with 1.04 blocks per set, which ranks ninth in the SEC, while sophomore right-side Tangerine Wiggs (Seattle, Wash.) adds 0.93 blocks per set.
The Gators and Bulldogs meet for the 60th time in the history of the two programs (since 1984), with Florida holding a 50-9 advantage in the all-time series. Florida-Georgia is the longest-running rivalry in school history, as the two teams have met 59 prior times. UF is 47-1 all-time vs. UGA under Wise's direction during her 20-year tenure at Florida. Wise has more victories against the Bulldogs than any other opponent in her coaching career. Thirty-four of Florida's wins against Georgia have come as 3-0 sweeps. The two teams have met twice a year during the regular season in every campaign since 1992.
Georgia enters Friday's match in fourth place in the SEC Eastern Division with an 11-14 overall record and a 3-11 mark in league play. The Bulldogs have lost five consecutive matches and have dropped eight of their last nine contests. Georgia dropped a pair of matches at Kentucky and Tennessee last weekend.
The Bulldogs are led offensively by senior middle blocker Valentina Gonzalez, who averages a squad-best 2.63 kills per set on .383 hitting, an efficiency that ranks second in the SEC. Junior middle blocker Ann Dylla, a high school and club classmate of Jaeckel, and freshman outside hitter Brittany Northcutt follow, each averaging 2.46 kills per set apiece.
Junior setter Kathleen Gates ranks second in the SEC with 10.27 assists per set and is sixth all-time in Georgia history with 3,246 career dishes. Junior libero Carla Tietz heads the squad's back-row effort, ranking 10th in the SEC with 3.26 digs per set. She ranks 11th all-time in Georgia school history with 1,153 career scoops.
As a team, Georgia ranks second (to Florida) in the SEC with 1.40 service aces per set. Northcutt is fourth in the SEC with 0.31 service aces per set, while Gonzalez averages 0.28 aces per set. Dylla is the squad's leading blocker, ranking sixth in the SEC with 1.08 blocks per set.
Complete results and a recap of Friday'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
· Florida enters Friday's match with a 20-1 overall record and a 13-0 Southeastern Conference mark, as the Gators have posted their 20th consecutive 20-win season dating back to 1991.
· The Gators are ranked No. 1 in the nation for the fourth consecutive week and for just the ninth time in program history. Florida was ranked for five consecutive polls during the 1996 season and UF holds a record of 18-1 all-time when playing as the nation's top-ranked team.
· Florida is ranked among the AVCA's top-25 poll for the 301st consecutive week, marking the nation's fifth-longest active streak in consecutive polls ranked. The Gators have been ranked in every poll since Sept. 17, 1991.
· The Gators check in at No. 1 in the latest RPI ratings for the fourth consecutive week.
· 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 704-131 (.843) in her 24th season as a Division I head coach, with her first four years coming at Iowa State from 1981-84, where she tallied a record of 81-63 (.563).
· The 2010 campaign marks the 27th season of Florida volleyball (beginning 1984). The Gators are 779-168 (.823) all-time in program history.
· Junior right-side/setter Kelly Murphy is the SEC Offensive Player of the Week for the fourth time this season and the sixth time in her career, while junior middle blocker Cassandra Anderson is the SEC Defensive Player of the Week for the second time in her career and the first time since Dec. 1, 2008.
· The Gators lead the SEC (all matches combined) in both blocks per set (2.65) and service aces per set (1.78). Florida is the only team in the SEC to have three players ranked among the league's top-10 individually in service aces.
· Murphy is nearing the 1,000-kill plateau for her Florida career. She currently has 911 career kills, which ranks 21st in program history. She needs 89 more kills to become just the 17th player in program history to eclipse the 1,000-kill plateau.
· Murphy leads the nation with six triple-doubles this season and has a school-record 21 triple-dips in her Florida career.
· Murphy ranks ninth on Florida's all-time career assists list with 1,772 career dishes. Accomplishing that in just 83 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 offense.
