No. 6 Gators Look to Keep Pace in SEC Standings at Mississippi State

Sunday, November 6

Starkville, MS

1 PM

Florida Gators

Mississippi State

The Gators are an undefeated 10-0 in road matches this season.

No. 6 Gators Look to Keep Pace in SEC Standings at Mississippi State

Saturday, November 5, 2016 | Volleyball

Florida can string together its second 10-match winning streak of the season with a win on Sunda

By: Zach Dirlam

STARKVILLE, Miss. – The No. 6 Gators, up three spots from last week and up one spot to No. 7 in the latest NCAA RPI rankings, take their nine-match winning streak to Starkville and for a 1 PM ET match against Mississippi State.

Florida entered this week tied for sixth nationally in road wins (nine), and improved to 10-0 with a sweep at Georgia on Wednesday, which was also head coach Mary Wise's 400th career SEC victory.

The Gators also entered the week as one of five teams (Coastal Carolina, Dayton, Princeton, and Western Kentucky being the others) with an undefeated road record in at least nine away matches.

In UF's first meeting with Mississippi State, back on Oct. 21, junior outside hitter Carli Snyder led a contingent of five Gators who logged six-plus kills. UF hit .412, then its third-highest efficiency rate of the season, and held MSU to a mere .045 hitting percentage. Snyder totaled nine kills, while Rhamat Alhassan finished with 12 points and hit .571 with nine kills and six block assists.

With a win Sunday afternoon, the Gators, 11-1 in SEC play, would assure themselves a spot atop the SEC standings once again, as fellow SEC leaders Kentucky and Missouri, both 11-1 as well, square off in Lexington Sunday.

FLORIDA NATIONALLY ENTERING THIS WEEK

Florida leads the nation in hitting efficiency (.334) for a sixth straight week, and its average climbed .003 after clips of .325 against Ole Miss and .421 against LSU
Florida's current clip of .334 would be the seventh-highest hitting percentage by any Division I team since 2008, when the current 25-point scoring format was adopted
Junior All-American middle blocker Rhamat Alhassan is up to eighth nationally in hitting percentage (.416), and Alex Holston ranks 73rd (.354)
- Last week, when freshman middle blocker Rachael Kramer (.505) qualified for the national leaders list, the Gators were the only team in the nation with three qualifying hitters with clips above .350
- Kramer missed qualifying this week by .009 attacks per set
Florida's opponent hitting percentage is also down to .155, which ranks 14th nationally. Back on Oct. 3, the Gators were ranked 60th nationally (.174)
- In UF's last eight matches, opponents are hitting just .119, and four of the eight foes hit below .070
The Gators are one of four teams (Nebraska, Penn State, Coastal Carolina) in the country ranked 25th or higher nationally in both hitting percentage and opponent hitting percentage
Defensively, UF checks in at No. 13 nationally with 2.86 blocks per set, and the Gators have logged double-digit blocks in seven of their last 12 matches
Redshirt sophomore setter Allie Monserez leads the nation in assists per set (12.28) for a sixth straight week, and is the only player in the country averaging over 11.90 assist per set
Behind Monserez's passing, the Gators are up to No. 7 nationally in assists per set (13.55)

BROADCAST INFORMATION
Sunday, Nov. 6, at Mississippi State | 1 p.m. ET
Live Stream: SEC Network + (Bart Gregory, Blake DuDonis) | Radio Stream (Tom Collett) + live on ESPN Gainesville (95.3 FM / AM 850) | Live Stats

SCOUTING THE BULLDOGS
Georgia | 12-14 overall, 4-8 SEC

Florida leads: 47-0 (38-0 under Mary Wise)
3-set: 44-0 | 4-set: 3-0 | 5-set: 0-0
Home: 22-0 | Away: 22-0 | Neutral: 2-0
Last Time Out: Oct. 21, 2016 at Gainesville --> W, 3-0 (25-12, 25-13, 25-17)
Notable: UF has swept the last nine meetings, and allowed less than 20 points in 21 of its last 23 sets against Mississippi State