Round Two: Nike Volleyball Big Four Classic Promises Big Battles in Palo Alto
Thursday, September 8, 2011 | Volleyball
The No. 7 Florida volleyball team descends on Palo Alto, Calif. to participate in the second annual Nike Volleyball Big Four Classic, hosted on the campus of Stanford University. The weekend highlights four of the top 10 teams in the nation, as the Gators are joined by No. 2 Penn State, No. 3 Stanford and No. 10 Texas at Maples Pavilion.
The first match on Friday features the four-time defending national champion Nittany Lions against the host Cardinal at 8:30 p.m. EST (5:30 PST) before the Gators take on the Longhorns at 11 p.m. EST (8 p.m. PST). The winners and losers of those matches will play each other on Saturday with times determined by Friday's play. All matches will be streamed live courtesy of Stanford All-Access and longtime play-by-play announcer Tom Collett will provide commentary on Florida's matches throughout the weekend on GatorZone.com.
Florida is coming off a heartbreaking five-set loss against then-No. 19 Iowa State on Monday, as the Gators rallied from two sets down to force a fifth set but were unable to come up with the win. Nine Florida players set a total of 21 season and/or career highs against the Cyclones. Senior Kristy Jaeckel (Littleton, Colo.) led the Gators with 16 kills, narrowly missing a double-double with nine digs. Junior Tangerine Wiggs played one of her best matches as a Gator with a career-high 14 kills, three blocks and two digs.
Senior Cassandra Anderson (Bakersfield, Calif.) had 10 kills and seven digs to go along with four blocks, while fellow middle blocker Betsy Smith (Atlanta, Ga.) had a career match against the Cyclones with a career-high seven kills on .875 hitting efficiency and a career-high seven blocks. Lowe's Senior CLASS candidate Kelly Murphy (Wilmington, Ill.), playing in her 100th career match, fell just short of a quadruple-double with 29 assists, 21 digs, nine kills and seven blocks.
Redshirt freshman libero Taylor Unroe (Muncie, Ind.) was named the Southeastern Conference's Freshman of the Week for performances against No. 25 Florida State and in the Gators' trio of three-set sweeps en route to the Campus USA Credit Union Invitational title. This is Florida's first SEC weekly honor of the 2011 season.
The Gators lead the SEC in hitting percentage (.300) and blocks (2.48/set), while ranking second in opponent hitting percentage (.091) and service aces (2.13/set) heading into the weekend. Senior right-side/setter Kelly Murphy (Wilmington, Ill.) is third in the conference in hitting percentage, averaging a .392 hitting clip this fall, while posting .57 service aces a set, good for third in the SEC. Murphy also owns the first triple-double of 2011, with 12 kills, 10 digs and 17 assists against Florida State on August 30th.
Florida went 1-1 in last year's inaugural Nike Volleyball Big Four Classic, dropping the opener to then-No. 1 Penn State in four sets (25-20, 21-25, 14-25, 23-25) before battling to five sets with then-No. 5 Texas, defeating the Longhorns by set scores of 25-11, 27-25, 16-25, 20-25, 16-14. The Gators last saw the Cardinal in 2009, facing Stanford at Pacific, defeating then-No. 11 Stanford in five (25-20, 15-25, 16-25, 27-25, 15-9).
The Gators are 105-81 (.565) all-time vs. teams ranked in the American Volleyball Coaches Association top-25 poll and were 10-2 last season against ranked foes, including wins against No. 2 Nebraska, No. 5 Texas, No. 9 Iowa State, No. 15 Colorado State, No. 18 Tennessee, No. 13 Florida State, No. 16 LSU. The Gators' only two losses in 2010 came at the hands of No. 1 and eventual national champion Penn State and No. 16 Purdue. Florida is 1-1 against ranked opponents this fall with its three-set sweep of No. 25 Florida State and its five-set loss to No. 19 Iowa State.
The Longhorns are currently 2-2 on the season, dropping a doubleheader to No. 11 Minnesota. Through Texas' first four matches, senior middle blocker and AVCA All-American Rachael Adams is leading the way with a team-high .479 hitting percentage and 1.71 blocks per set, good for second in the Big 12, while ranking seventh in the league with 4.18 points per set. Adams was named the preseason Big 12 player of the year. Freshman middle blocker Khat Bell was named preseason freshman of the year while senior outside hitter Amber Roberson was also named preseason All-Big 12.
The Cardinal are undefeated thus far, posting wins over Delaware, Rice, Notre Dame and Duke. Junior setter Karissa Cook, who is running a 5-1 for the first time in her collegiate career, was named the Pac-12 Conference Defensive Player of the Week for her efforts at the Stanford Invitational. Cook averaged 5.00 digs per set and 0.88 blocks per set in the Cardinal's wins over Notre Dame and then-No. 18 Duke. She contributed 20 digs in both matches, tying her career high. Stanford returns three all-conference performers in junior outside hitter Hayley Spelman, sophomore outside hitter Rachel Williams and sophomore middle blocker Carly Wopat.
The four-time defending NCAA Champions Nittany Lions enter the weekend with a 4-1 record, including a five-set win over then-No. 2 USC. Penn State has outhit their opponents .315 to .189 this season. The Nittany Lions are led by sophomore outside hitter Deja McClendon who is averaging 3.89 kills per set, 1.11 digs per set and 0.61 blocks per set en route to all-tournament team honors in two tournaments so far this fall. Freshman setter/outside hitter Micha Hancock was named the MVP of the Pittsburgh Invitational last weekend, averaging 8.53 assists per set and 1.65 digs per set, while hitting .455. Junior setter/libero Kristin Carpenter was also selected to the all-tournament team and was named preseason All-Big 10.
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.
