BATON ROUGE, La. – Rare are the great players who are also great leaders.
Over the years, the University of Florida has had its fair share. Just check out the team trophy cases for men’s basketball (Joakim Noah) and football (Tim Tebow) if you need recent examples.
Sunday as she has done often this season, senior outside hitter Callie Rivers put the Florida volleyball team on her shoulders and showed the way in the top-ranked Gators’ 3-1 (25-19, 33-31, 25-27, 25-13) victory over No. 17 Louisiana State that extended Florida’s winning streak to 21 matches.
Rivers had a career-high 21 kills as SEC-champion Florida improved to 26-1 overall, 19-0 in the league. Plus, it was the Gators’ 10th victory in 11 matches against opponents ranked in the American Volleyball Coaches Association’s Top 25 at the time of the meeting.
The 21 kills came on .410 hitting, eclipsing Rivers’ previous personal best of 18 kills recorded against College of Charleston back in 2007. She added seven digs and four blocks for a career-high 23.0 total points.
“Callie earned every one of those kills,” Florida coach Mary Wise said. “She had great vision tonight and took such smart swings. To have 21 kills against a team like LSU is a great job of really getting it done.”
Florida out-blocked LSU (24-4, 15-4 SEC) 11.0-4.0, the 14th time this season (and fifth time in the last six matches) that the Gators have accumulated double-figure blocks. The Gators hit .298 for the match, while holding LSU to a .157 hitting efficiency.
As a team, Florida recorded a season-high 71 digs, marking the first time that the Gators have eclipsed the 70-dig mark as a team since charting 83 at Kentucky in 2009. Florida’s back-row performance was especially impressive considering the Tigers entered the match as the league’s digs leader with 16.01 digs per set.
“This was great volleyball today as both teams battled, especially in sets two and three,” Wise said. “It was such a high level of play. I thought the key to the match was that we went toe-to-toe with LSU, which leads the league in digs, and really made a statement with our blocking.”
Junior outside hitter Kristy Jaeckel totaled 15 kills on .275 hitting with eight digs, while junior middle blocker Cassandra Anderson and senior middle blocker Lauren Bledsoe each added 10 kills. Anderson registered a match-high six blocks, while Bledsoe added five. Four Gators charted four or more blocks each in the match.
Junior right-side/setter Kelly Murphy recorded her 14th consecutive double-double with a season-high 31 assists to complement 13 digs and eight kills. Murphy has 22 double-doubles this season. Sophomore right-side Tangerine Wiggs totaled four blocks in the match.
Senior libero Erin Fleming had a career-high 22 digs, while freshman setter Chanel Brown had her second career double-double with 22 assists and a career-high 12 digs.
Florida concludes the regular season with a Friday visit to South Carolina. The first serve is scheduled for 7 p.m.
SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE STANDINGS
EASTERN DIVISION SEC/Overall
(1) Florida 19-0/26-1
(21) Tennessee 14-5/23-6
Kentucky 11-8/17-12
Georgia 6-13/15-16
South Carolina 4-15/7-22
WESTERN DIVISION SEC/Overall
(17) Louisiana State 15-4/24-4
Mississippi 13-7/19-10
Auburn 10-9/19-12
Arkansas 8-11/14-16
Mississippi State 3-16/11-19
Alabama 2-17/10-19
RESULTS
Sunday / Nov. 21
Florida 3, Louisiana State 1 (25-19, 33-31, 25-27, 25-13)
Georgia 3, Alabama 1 (22-25, 25-11, 25-22, 25-22)
Tennessee 3, Mississippi 1 (25-15, 13-25, 25-20, 25-20)
Auburn 3, Mississippi State 1 (23-25, 25-17, 25-22, 25-22)
Arkansas 3, South Carolina 1 (25-21, 23-25, 26-24, 25-17)
Friday / Nov. 19
Florida 3, Arkansas 1 (25-17, 25-27, 25-11, 25-20)
Auburn 3, Alabama 2 (21-25, 26-28, 25-19, 25-19, 16-14)
Louisiana State 3, South Carolina 0 (25-16, 25-20, 25-19)
Georgia 3, Mississippi State 1 (25-22, 21-25, 25-16, 29-27)
Kentucky 3, Mississippi 1 (15-25, 25-9, 25-18, 25-21)
SCHEDULE
Wednesday / Nov. 24
Mississippi State at Alabama, 5 p.m.
Tennessee at Kentucky, 7 p.m.
Auburn at Georgia, 7 p.m.
Louisiana State at Arkansas, 8 p.m.
Friday / Nov. 26
Florida at South Carolina, 7 p.m.
For the latest Bison/American Volleyball Coaches Association Division I coaches poll, click below:
http://www.ncaa.com/sports/w-volley/division_i1.html
For the latest 2010 NCAA Women’s Volleyball RPI rankings, click below:
http://web1.ncaa.org/app_data/weeklyrpi/2010WVBrpi1.html