Gators Give Wildcats Their Due

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The Florida Gators came into Sunday's match unbeaten and ranked No. 1 in the nation. Their opponent, Southeastern Conference rival Kentucky checked in at No. 8.

At least for a day, the two teams flipped roles.

"Well, that was a spanking."

That's how UF coach Mary Wise began her post-game conversation with the media. She could not have put it any more succinctly after the Wildcats beat the Gators in four sets 25-20, 25-22, 23-25 and 25-16. The fourth and decisive set was particularly, well, decisive, after UK turned a 6-6 score into a 21-10 lead and finished things off from there.

There's a reason, Wise said, she voted the Wildcats as her preseason league champion. They're talented. They're physical. They have a superstar setter in freshman Madison Lilly, who had 52 assists. And against the Gators (14-1, 6-1), they were deadly on the attack.

Try .309 deadly, which was a season-high against a UF defense averaging just .139 against. Through the Gators' first 14 matches, only one opponent had attacked at even a 20-percent efficiency (Arkansas .253).

"Kentucky played well," senior middle blocker Rhamat Alhassan said. "They came out swinging."

And accurately.

After taking a 6-5 lead in the first, the Wildcats neither trailed or were tied the rest of the game. They went up 12-11 in the second and neither trailed or were tied after that to run away with the first two sets.

In the third set, the Gators rallied from a 12-5 deficit to tie things at 17, 18, 19, 20 and 21 behind some tremendous kill work by outside hitter Carli Snyder. And despite falling down again 23-21, UF stormed back to score the final four points

"We were all up and down," Alhassan said.

Mostly down in the fourth set, when Kentucky really took it to the home team and its boisterous crowd.

"You've got to give Kentucky a ton of credit," sophomore middle blocker Rachael Kramer said. "To come on the road, in our house, guns a blazing on every single swing? They did a great job of being balanced and setting all their options. There were times we looked great, where we looked like the No. 1 team in the country, and there were times that it just didn't look right. Eventually, it just wasn't enough."

Kentucky (16-2, 7-0), which assumed first place in the SEC standings, had the look of the No. 1 team in the country, as well. For most of the day, actually. And with their 11th win in a row, who knows where the Wildcats will be ranked when the two clubs face off again Nov. 1 at Lexington.

The fact these two teams will see one another again was a point Wise made, along with another point -- a very valid one -- about SEC season not even reaching its midway point.

When asked how her players would respond to their first setback of the year, she motioned to the commotion on the Exactech Arena floor, as her team bounced among the fans, chatting, taking photos, and signing autographs.

In other words, they'll be OK.

"They're players. They're fine. They're more interested in the booster club desserts, right now," Wise said. "That's the beauty of players. They easily go on to the next match."

And learn from the last one.

"We've had some really tough wins that were really close and we tried to benefit and get better from them," Kramer said. "We have to get better from this, as well."

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Gators Give Wildcats Their Due

Players Mentioned

Rhamat Alhassan

Rachael Kramer

Carli Snyder

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