Senior Holly Pole, Head Coach Mary Wise Recap FSU/Texas, Preview USC Classic
Monday, September 8, 2014 | Volleyball
WATCH: Head Coach Mary Wise Monday Press Conference
GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- After a challenging weekend of matches against its first top-10 opponents of the 2014 campaign in No. 7 FSU and No. 2 Texas, the new No. 10 Gators will hit the road to continue the fun in California this week with match-ups against No. 13 San Diego and No. 6 USC as part of the Trojans' USC Classic.
Florida and San Diego will match up Thursday at the Galen Center on the USC Campus at 8 p.m. ET, while the Orange and Blue will take on the home team Trojans in a Friday top-10 clash at 10:30 p.m. ET, 7:30 p.m. PT on the Pac-12 TV Networks.
Stay posted to GatorZone.com for all broadcast and USC Classic information!
On last week's matches:
When we scheduled last week's matches on Thursday and then Saturday, we knew it was going to be quite the challenge playing at Florida State on Thursday night and then Texas on Saturday. If we just look at the outcome, then I think we're missing the point as a team. What we've talked to the players about is the long term and how much better we got from Thursday to Friday -- Thursday's match in an exciting environment, packed place, incredibly warm. It wasn't the highest level of execution for either team, but a lot of emotion and both teams played really hard. To go five against Florida State at Florida State shows a lot about the grit of the team.
To come back on Saturday, we had some really good performances, be it Holly Pole in the libero position, Rhamat Alhassan in the fifth match of her career in the middle, certainly Carli Snyder, our freshman outside hitter who had the best hitting numbers of anyone on the court. There were so many good things that came from it. The whole idea of the pre-conference scheduling was to help us for the SEC in trying to play the best teams possible.
Now we'll do that on the road, in a neutral setting on Thursday night when we play San Diego, which features one of the most dynamic outside hitters we'll see this season. They are known year in and year out for their great ball control and defense and they run a similar type of offense as the last two teams we played in terms of a six-two.
Then we play USC on Friday night, which features some of the most talented players in the country. It's not getting any easier, but we look at it as another weekend and opportunity for our team to get better. More here.
TALKING VOLLEY(BALL) WITH HOLLY
On playing libero for the Gators the last two matches:
I wouldn't say necessarily responsibility has changed, I've gotten a lot of practice, whether its (been in) spring games or just in practice in general in the libero position, so when Mary made that change against Oklahoma, there were definitely nerves coming out in the libero jersey, but it's the same thing -- I'm still digging, passing and serving. Those are my three main responsibilities and that doesn't change. It's just being out there for an extra two-and-a-half rotations. More here.
LAST TIME OUT FOR THE GATORS
The Gator volleyball program squared off with its first two ranked opponents of the 2014 campaign at No. 8 FSU 9/4 before hosting No. 3 Texas 9/6 last week. The Orange and Blue fell short in both matches, 3-2 against the Seminoles and 3-1 in the tilt with the Longhorns to move to 3-2 overall on the young season. UF and FSU played five in Tallahassee for the first time in the rally–scoring era and had a career-best performance from sophomore right side Alex Holston, who put up 24 kills and a .447 hitting efficiency to pace UF's in its best offensive performance of the season (.297). Limited to nine kills Saturday against the Longhorns, Holston found her ways to contribute with a career-best two assists and seven digs for UF. While the Gators ran into a potent blocking team in Texas Saturday, freshman outside hitter Carli Snyder provided a spark for Florida offensively with a career night, including 18 kills and a .324 clip. Junior outside hitter Noami Santos-Lamb also registered a career-best 14 kills, her third straight match with double-digit kills. Senior defensive specialist Holly Pole took over libero duties for UF against the two top-10 opponents in FSU and Texas, and Pole was stellar with a perfect reception percentage -- zero errors on 56 attempts. She was UF's only DS with double-digit digs against No. 3 Texas and is averaging 2.50 digs/s to lead UF so far this season in the category.
UP FOR THE CHALLENGE
· Six of Florida's first eight matches have been, or are, against opponents ranked or receiving votes in the AVCA Preseason Top 25 (in order of schedule, rank at time of match): Oklahoma (rv), No. 8 FSU, No. 3 Texas, No. 13 San Diego, No. 6 USC & Marquette (rv)
· Seven of Florida's first eight opponents made the 2013 NCAA Tournament: add Georgia Southern to the above list. The Eagles were in the Gainesville sub regional last December
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