The Florida volleyball team cruised to an easy three-set win over South Carolina State in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday at the O’Connell Center.
UF hit .586, the second-highest hitting percentage in school history, in the victory — led by junior Kelly Murphy’s team-high eight kills and .700 hitting percentage.
“I just thought that we did a really good job of staying focused throughout the entire match,” Murphy said.”
Murphy added 17 assists, two service aces and four digs for a match-high ten points.
Senior Callie Rivers led the Gators (28-1) with six digs, helping to hold SC State to a paltry -.042 hitting percentage.
“I think we’re a defensive-minded team, so it’s always our main goal every game to execute our defensive game plan,” Rivers said. “I think we did it really well this match and I think we got better.”
SC State entered finished its season with a 17-23 record after a late-season surge powered the Lady Bulldogs to a Mid-Eastern Atlantic Conference championship on 11 wins in their final 15 matches.
“They were doing a lot of good things, so I think overall the match made us better and let us work on things that we needed to work on and prepare for the rest of the tournament,” Rivers said.
The Gators made quick work of the hot team, ending the match in straight sets (25-7, 25-10, 25-12) and a season-best 62 minutes of play.
Was it too easy of a win?
“If there is, I haven’t been a part of it,” Florida head coach Mary Wise said. “We got everybody playing time, we didn’t have to spend as much physical energy on tonight’s match, and hopefully that will help us for tomorrow night.”
Every Florida player saw action during the game despite some not playing often during the season’s 103 sets in 29 matches.
“I thought it was really fun,” Murphy said. “Everybody always works hard in practice, so for everybody to be able to get out there and contribute, it was really exciting getting to see everyone out there and doing what we work on every day in practice.”
Stephanie Ferrell (39 sets played in 2010), Cinthya Roberto (43), Chloe Mann (15), Sundai Weston (12), Betsy Smith 11), Elissa Hausman (11) each contributed to Friday’s win.
“I thought it was special because they do so much for us in practice,” Rivers said. “I think they might one of the main reasons we are ranked No. 1 going into the tournament. They have made us so much better. Our practices are very, very competitive. It was nice for them to be able to show everyone what’s making us better.”
UF set an NCAA Tournament single-match school record with its .586 hitting efficiency (38 kills, 4 errors, 58 attacks) as eight Gators finished with a hitting percentage greater than .400, shattering the school-best mark of .476 set last season against College of Charleston.
“The numbers really speak for themselves in terms of, especially, our hitting efficiency,” Wise said. “We felt that we would have a matchup advantage because of our size.”
Sophomore right-side Tangerine Wiggs totaled five kills on .444 hitting with five blocks, while senior middle blocker Lauren Bledsoe had five kills on five swings with no errors and also totaled five blocks.
Junior outside hitter Kristy Jaeckel posted four kills on six swings with no errors for a .667 hitting efficiency with two service aces, and freshman setter Chanel Brown dished out 11 assists. sen
SC State was making its first appearance in the NCAA Tournament.
“I just want to commend my team for the way that we finished our conference play,” SC State head coach Millicent Sylvan said. “I think this was a big stage for the girls, we had a great opportunity to compete in the first round of the tournament, which was the first time in university history. Although we didn’t put our best foot forward, I think they did as well as they could. We’re really young, hopefully we can make a run at it next season.”
SC State had never played in front of a crowd larger than 438 this season, but faced a hostile O’Dome crowd of 2,423.
“It was overwhelming, but it also gave us an adrenaline rush to make us want to do better,” SC State freshman Desire Walker said.
Walker led the Lady Bulldogs with eight kills and a .294 hitting percentage.
SC State senior Jarne Gleaton, the 2010 MEAC Player of the Year, finished her career with six kills.
“It was a different experience, because of the fact that it was Florida,” Gleaton said. “As far as the atmosphere, the band and the fans, it was a good experience personally.”
Gleaton added to her school season-record of 404 kills.
“We set a goal for ourselves to win a MEAC championship and to try and perform in the first round of the playoffs,” Gleaton said. “I’m satisfied with the hard work that we’ve had over this season. I’m OK with everything that has happened.”
Florida recorded seven service aces and four service errors. The 1.75:1 ratio matches a season-high set at South Carolina on Nov. 26.
“I thought that our serving just really never allowed South Carolina State to get into a rhythm offensively because you could see in their athletes that they have a team full of players with really fast arms,” Wise said. “I could see how, when they are in system, that they have the ability to get kills from lots of different positions. Fortunately we served very well and they never got on track offensively.”
The 25-7 first set score was the most lopsided win for the Gators in the NCAA Tournament since the NCAA switched to rally-scoring in 2008.
“It was one of those good wins,” Wise said. “You look around the country and, as we predicted, this would be a year where it’s not easy to advance. We’ll take this and move on and look forward to playing in a really big-time match tomorrow night.”
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Florida will face rival Florida State (22-10) on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. in the second round. The Seminoles advanced on a 3-1 win against Georgia Southern earlier on Friday.
“Both teams tomorrow night are 1-0,” Wise said. “At this point in time of the season, I’m not really sure that fatigue is a factor. We have two veteran teams who are very familiar with each other. Florida State has a lot of juniors and seniors, a wealth of international experience. If a second round matchup doesn’t give you enough excitement, how about Florida-Florida State?”
UF won the first meeting of the season between the teams, 3-0 on Sept. 22 in Tallahassee.
“What you have is two junior and senior-dominated teams, very experienced, both teams trying to advance,” Wise said. “And then there’s that piece about it being Florida-Florida State.”
“If you compare the numbers from the first time to the second time, they have four great hitters on the pin. Their depth is what’s most impressive. They can use lots of different lineups and still come at you in lots of different ways.
“They generate a terrific offense. The 6-2 (alignment), it seems they are really clicking with it right now. They just don’t make a lot of unforced errors. They don’t serve balls out, they don’t hit balls out, that’s what a veteran team will do. We’ll have to earn points tomorrow.
“It’s just going to be really great drama here tomorrow night. I want to give a shout-out to the terrific crowd tonight and hope we can get them back tomorrow night, plus more. For those fans that didn’t get to go to Tallahassee for football, maybe they’ll come as well to the O’Connell Center tomorrow.”