Gator Country

Florida coach Mary Wise and her Gators are scheduled to meet No. 1 Penn State Friday night at the O'Connell Center in the first round of the Nike Big Four Volleyball Classic. / Gator Country photo by Tim Casey

Mary Wise might want to place a telephone call this week to Richard "Digger" Phelps, the ESPN college basketball studio analyst, on what it meant to break UCLA's remarkable 88-game winning streak. The Florida volleyball coach also could show her No. 4 Gators the speech that the late Herb Brooks (portrayed by Kurt Russell in the movie, "Miracle") gave to the U.S. hockey team just moments before sending them out onto the ice to play the invincible Soviet Union team in the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, N.Y.

Brooks told his young Americans, “This is your time!” before the U.S. pulled off the greatest upset in sports history with its 4-3 victory over the Russians on its way to the gold medal.

Friday night, it will be Wise’s Gators chance to be immortalized in college volleyball annals when they play host to No. 1 Penn State, the three-time defending NCAA champion and winners of 108 straight matches, in the opening match of the Nike Big Four Volleyball Classic at 7:30 p.m. in the Stephen C. O’Connell Center following the match between No. 2 Texas and No. 3 Stanford.

Florida (5-0) assured its ticket would be unblemished by winning the Campus USA Credit Union Invitational Saturday night at the O’Connell Center. After beating Albany and Bowling Green in straight sets Friday, Florida needed four sets to defeat No. 13 Colorado State, 25-22, 25-19, 25-27, 25-21 for their third victory this season over a ranked foe. Two weekends ago in Omaha, Neb., the Gators knocked off No. 9 Iowa State and No. 2 Nebraska to win the AVCA Showcase tournament.

Junior Kelly Murphy, a right-side/setter (Wilmington, Ill.), and senior middle blocker Lauren Bledsoe (Long Beach, Calif.) combined for nearly half of the Gators’ offensive output, recording 13 and 10 kills, respectively. Bledsoe was nearly unstoppable, hitting at a .533 clip while contributing five blocks, and was errorless through the first three sets.

Earning the first official start of her career, freshman setter Chanel Brown (Tempe, Ariz.) dished out 17 assists and eight digs, while fellow setter Murphy also contributed eight digs to go along with 24 assists. Junior middle blocker Cassandra Anderson came up big for the Gators with eight kills and three blocks. Junior outside hitter Kristy Jaeckel (Littleton, Colo.) contributed seven kills, while senior outside hitter Callie Rivers (Winter Park, Fla.) and sophomore right-side hitter Tangerine Wiggs (Seattle, Wash.) tallied six kills apiece for the Gators. Senior libero Erin Fleming (Orlando, Fla.) was one of three Florida players with double-figure digs with 10, while also tying her career high with four service aces.

The Gators recorded 11.0 blocks in the match, marking the fourth time in five outings that they have reached double-figure totals in rejections. Bledsoe, Murphy and Rivers each were named to the Campus USA Credit Union Invitational All-Tournament Team for their performances.

Meanwhile, the Nittany Lions swept Virginia Commonwealth, 25-13, 25-12, 25-12, at the Rec Hall in State College, Pa., to finish off a sweep of its three matches in the Hampton Inn Classic. A career-high 13 kills and .550 hitting by Katie Kabbes and 13 kills and .524 hitting from Deja McClendon led Penn State (7-0).

Blair Brown added 12 kills, seven digs and three blocks and Arielle Wilson notched eight kills. Katie Slay had a match-high four blocks, Kristin Carpenter gave out 39 assists and Alyssa D’Erricopicked up 17 digs. For the match, Penn State registered a .422 hitting night with a 7-4 edge in blocks and a 50-25 margin in digs, holding the Rams to .053 hitting.

The Nittany Lions swept Colgate 25-14, 25-15, 25-15 Saturday morning behind 10 kills and four blocks for McClendon, eight kills for Brown and seven kills for Fatima Balza,who had just one error to hit .750. Balza also had a match-high seven blocks. Carpenter and Mikinzie Moydellshared setting duties, with Moydell collecting 23 assists and Carpenter posting 13. D’Errico’s 11 digs led the defense. Penn State hit .403 while holding a 9.5 to 1 blocking edge, a 40-27 edge in digs and holding the Raiders to minus-.030 hitting.

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