Twin Towers: Gators Advance Behind Huge Performances from Alhassan and Holston
Friday, December 11, 2015 | Volleyball, Scott Carter
AUSTIN, Texas -- Mary Wise is in her 25th season as Florida's volleyball coach and has seen her share of great players and great performances.
So when Wise says something like she said here Friday night, it catches your attention. The Gators had just finished off Wisconsin in the Sweet 16 in a tense five-setter (25-17, 25-23, 19-25, 22-25, 15-12).
The Gators won the first two sets and then got knocked off their game the next two as the Badgers refused to fade away. However, in the decisive fifth set, with the score tied 12-all, sophomore middle hitter Rhamat Alhassan (seven blocks) and senior Živa Recek stuffed a shot by Wisconsin's Haleigh Nelson that set off an eruption on the Gators' bench.
Alhassan followed that go-ahead play with another block on Kelli Bates' kill attempt, and with an Elite Eight berth a point away, Florida's bench emptied onto the court when Bates punched one into the net for an attack error.
The Gators, winless (0-5) all season in five-set matches, finally won one. And it couldn't have come at a better time.
"This just shows that the Gators are at a whole new level for this tournament,'' senior setter Mackenzie Dagostino said. "We are a team that really thrives off our blocks. It absolutely pumped our side up. Having that leg up there, 13-12, was a sign this is our match."
As thrilling as the end was for Florida, Wise glanced at the final scoresheet as she sat at the podium during the postgame press conference. Numbers don't lie, and Wise marveled at the numbers next to the names of Alhassan and junior outside hitter Alex Holston.
Alhassan finished with a career-high 24 kills; Holston had 20. In their two seasons together at UF, the former Metro American Club teammates from Maryland had never been so on at the same time.
"That will go down in Florida volleyball history as one of the all-time best performances in a big match,'' Wise said.
A few minutes later as Wise relaxed outside the team's locker room, she was asked again about Florida's one-two punch.
"Great players have great performances in big matches,'' Wise said. "As well as those two played, it was a statement match."
The Gators hope to make another statement on Saturday night when they face host Texas, which defeated UCLA 3-1 in Friday's late match. Florida defeated the Longhorns here in September and if they can do it again Saturday, the Gators will earn their first trip to the Final Four in 12 years.
While Alhassan and Holston are no strangers to success, what transpired Friday is rooted in ways to a year ago when the Gators lost in the Elite Eight to Stanford.
The disappointment was real. The road back was difficult.
Both spent the summer competing internationally. Alhassan and teammate Carli Snyder played for the U.S. National Junior Team that competed in Italy, Croatia and Slovenia. Meanwhile, Holston played for the U.S. collegiate national team -- coached by Wise -- that traveled to South Korea for the World University Games.
At a packed Gregory Gym on Friday night, with the stands full of Texas fans rooting for Wisconsin, Alhassan and Holston delivered on the college game's biggest stage.
When the fifth set started, Holston tried to refocus her teammates on the ultimate goal.
"I'm a pretty relaxed player on the court,'' she said. "When I feel like there is a lot of tension or there's just a lot going on in peoples heads, I try to bring it together and say, 'look, let's just relax.' That's always my mentality. That's what I'm best at doing."
Alhassan's defense was critical in the final moments, but Holston's offense (four kills in the fifth set) helped set the stage. And so did Dagostino's setting as she recorded 53 assists, advancing deeper into the tournament while her counterpart from Wisconsin, All-American setter Lauren Carlini, saw her season come to an end despite 59 assists.
"It was really as fun and as competitive of a match as our group has been a part of,'' Wise said.
Alhassan was a high school basketball star who didn't pick up volleyball until much later than Holston. One of the nation's top recruits two years ago, the 6-foot-4 Alhassan chose Florida in large part to reunite with Holston.
The Gators are thankful she did.
"This is her environment. This is why she plays volleyball,'' Dagostino said. "I think it's hard sometimes being a high-profile player and having people tell you how great you are, but she doesn't listen to it. She doesn't listen to anything anyone says about her. She just knows that, 'I have to go in and play the best volleyball I can for my team.' I think this environment just turned her one level up."
Alhassan quickly deflected praise for her performance Friday.
"I go into every match thinking I want to do whatever I can to help us win,'' she said. "I wasn't thinking, 'oh, I've got ever how many kills or whatever.' It was just a grind mentality."
What she treasured most was the way the Gators responded to her late blocks and overcoming the odds of a fifth-set win.
"We've lost in five so many times,'' Alhassan said. "I think we needed this match. We needed this just to prove that we can win in five."
When the fifth set began, the fiery Dagostino, as good a pulse on how the team is going as anyone, reminded her teammates of what was at stake.
They had been here before and walked out on the wrong side of the scoreboard.
"We either win it and we go on, or we lose it and we're done,'' she said. "Let's not be done."
Instead, they hope they are just getting started. Alhassan and Holston have a lot to do with that.
