Gator Volleyball Notebook - August 13th, 2011
Sunday, August 14, 2011 | Volleyball
On Saturday evening, the Florida volleyball team had its first scrimmage of the 2011 preseason. This part of camp marks the halfway point to the Orange and Blue Scrimmage, one of the marquee events of volleyball and football's joint Fan Day.
For head coach Mary Wise, it was a midterm of sorts. The team has been implementing new defensive strategies thanks to associate head coach Dave Boos, who was instrumental in the Gators' 2.84 blocks per set in 2010, good for 10th in the nation.
The Orange and Blue (or in this case, the Orange and White) played multiple sets with different lineups for both sides, mixing veterans in with newcomers. The highlights came early and often, with the first point of the evening won off a stuff block courtesy of AVCA First Team All-American Kelly Murphy (Wilmington, Ill.) and junior Betsy Smith (Atlanta, Ga.).
The freshmen were also impressive on Saturday, diving to keep plays alive and never getting tentative against the veterans. It was this tenacity that led Wise to name newcomer Noami Santos-Lamb (Carolina, Puerto Rico) the most-improved player thus far.
“Today, Noami was definitely most improved,” Wise said. “She ended one of the games with an ace off a 55 mph jump serve.”
The team has their first day off of preseason camp on Sunday but the Gators know it's back to work bright and early Monday morning.
“If this is the midterm, Gators have a lot to work on,” Wise said. “But we're a week in and we have a couple weeks before our opener. We can only go up.”
For all of the latest information on Florida volleyball, please log on to www.GatorZone.com/Volleyball or, for up-to-the-minute updates, follow Florida volleyball on Twitter at @GatorZoneVB or www.twitter.com/GatorZoneVB and Coach Mary Wise on Twitter at @GatorMary or www.twitter.com/GatorMary. You can also find the Gators on Facebook.
REMINDER: FAN DAY – AUGUST 20
The University of Florida volleyball team and football team will host the Verizon Fan Day on Saturday, Aug. 20 in the Stephen C. O'Connell Center. Gates open at 2:30 p.m. and autographs with football student-athletes begin at 3 p.m. and extend to 6 p.m. The Orange & Blue scrimmage will take place from 3:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. and autographs with the volleyball team will be from 4:30 p.m. to 6 p.m.
SEC PRESEASON INFORMATION RELEASED MONDAY AND TUESDAY
The Southeastern Conference will announce SEC Preseason Poll on Monday, Aug. 15 and its Preseason All-SEC Team Tuesday, Aug. 16. Full information will be available at GatorZone.com following the conference's official announcements.
FIRST GATOR HOTLINE WITH MARY WISE SET FOR AUG. 22
The first Gator Hotline with Mary Wise show for the 2011 season will take place Monday, August 22 at 6 p.m. at Ballyhoo Grill on Newberry Road. The hour-long show also will air live on WRUF-AM 850. Fans are encouraged to attend and also can dial (800) 392-8255 to ask their questions of Coach Wise live on the air. Tom Collett will host the show along with former Gator All-SEC selection Missy Whittemore.
