The fifth-ranked Florida women’s volleyball team has proven it can handle the role of road warrior fairly well to start off the season. But the Gators will be more than happy to add an old trusty friend back to their already formidable arsenal.
Mary Wise’s Gators have proven themselves over the course of a three-week road stretch that only landed one blemish under the loss column – a straight-set defeat to No. 3 Washington at the Tampa Twice Tournament at South Florida two Saturdays ago. So as the opposition knows, it’s not like they need any additional help.
But when that weapon happens to be a dome full of rabid fans cheering for you to win as opposed to cheering for your demise, as the Gators have experienced for much of the past month, this team will certainly take it.
“The security of being at home is just an extra weapon you have when playing at home,” said sophomore Kristy Jaeckel.
That weapon has translated into a 283-12 home record since 1991, when Wise came to Florida, making the O’Dome one of the toughest places to play in the nation.
The key ingredient to that winning formula has been the solid fan support over the years. The high level of talent the Gators have had on the roster over the years hasn’t hurt too much, either.
“We’re very fortunate that over the years we’ve had such great attendance,” Wise said. “If you add talented players to a huge crowd, it’s a pretty good combination.”
The Gators (8-1, 2-0 SEC) take on Mississippi State (4-9, 0-2) Friday at 7 p.m. and Alabama (4-8, 2-0) on Sunday at 1:30 p.m.
The Gators have dominated the two teams over the years, never losing a match to either opponent, so having that extra edge of the home-court advantage is something their opponents don’t want to hear about.
All-time the Gators are 34-0, only dropping three out of 105 sets, against Mississippi State and are 30-0 against Alabama, dropping only four out of 94 sets.
But of course, the Gators know what happens if you dwell on the past and get caught looking ahead to what would be deemed tougher competition on paper.
“How teams perform in the past can’t ever be in our minds,” Jaeckel said. “It’s really hard to keep that out. The SEC is really hard this year. Everyone has really raised its level of play. I think that we need to expect that from everyone. Ole Miss gave us a run last weekend. We need to expect that. Every team plays harder when they play Florida.”
Two solid SEC teams, Georgia and Auburn, who are a combined 19-7 overall, found out last weekend against Alabama what happens when you don’t take a conference foe seriously. The Tide only dropped one set in taking care of both opponents to move to the top of the SEC West standings after the opening weekend.
The Gators aren’t about to be the next victim in line caught napping on Alabama, or Mississippi State for that matter.
“I think that we just need to focus on every match,” Jaeckel said. “We need to focus on every game. Right now we really need to focus on our consistency. I think that’s going to play a major factor this weekend in how well we do. We’re just trying to take everything one point at a time and one game at a time. We’re just trying to stay focused on our game plan and how we’re going to execute it against people.”
That game plan has worked almost to perfection for the Gators, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t far from perfect yet. Florida has dominated opponents in virtually every aspect of the game except blocking. The front-line defense is something Wise has been stressing all season long, and although the Gators have made strides in the area, there is still work that needs to be done to reach championship form. Florida is currently ninth in the SEC in blocks with 1.97 per set and last in the SEC in blocks allowed at 2.43 per set.
“It’s still a work in progress,” Wise said. “The biggest difference, especially with the play of Cassandra Anderson, we’re blocking the balls that we should. We’ll continue to work on it just like we do with serving and passing every day. We believe that the skills you have to have consistently are serving, passing and blocking.”
Anderson figures to be the key cog in turning Florida’s blocking around. The sophomore is leading the team and is fifth in the conference with 1.14 blocks per set. The only question is which of Anderson’s teammates is going to help her carry the load. Sophomore Colleen Ward is second on the team with 0.60 blocks per set, about half as many as Anderson.
If practice makes perfect, then the Gators will soon be blocking machines.
“I feel like we’ve come along pretty well,” Anderson said. “We’ve worked a lot on it in practice. It seems like every practice we work on blocking. So hopefully we will show even more this weekend that we’re getting better at it and working at it.”
A little home-court advantage thrown in with all that practice should help the Florida front-liners show their home crowd how far they have come.
“It’s only an advantage if you take advantage of it,” Wise said.
The Gators have proven over the years they know exactly what to do with that advantage.
SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE STANDINGS
East Conf. Div. All
Kentucky 1-0 0-0 11-1
Florida 2-0 0-0 8-1
South Carolina 1-1 0-0 9-2
Georgia 1-1 0-0 10-3
Tennessee 0-1 0-0 6-4
West Conf. Div. All
Alabama 2-0 1-0 4-8
Auburn 1-1 1-1 9-4
Louisiana State 1-1 0-0 7-4
Arkansas 1-1 0-0 7-6
Mississippi 0-2 0-0 6-6
Mississippi State 0-2 0-1 4-9
Wednesday, Sept. 23
Georgia 3, Western Carolina 1 (25-15, 25-23, 21-25, 25-16)
Friday, Sept. 25
Mississippi State at Florida, 7 p.m.
Alabama at South Carolina, 7 p.m.
Arkansas at Tennessee, 7 p.m.
Mississippi at Kentucky, 7 p.m.
Louisiana State at Auburn, 7 p.m.
Sunday, Sept. 27
Alabama at Florida, 1:30 p.m.
Arkansas at Kentucky, 1:30 p.m.
Louisiana State at Georgia, 1:30 p.m.
Mississippi State at South Carolina, 3 p.m.
Mississippi at Tennessee, 5 p.m.
Wednesday, Sept. 30
Tennessee at Louisville, 7 p.m.
Mississippi State at Alabama, 8 p.m.
BISON/AVCA DIVISION I COACHES POLL
The American Volleyball Coaches Association Division I volleyball poll for Sept. 21 as sponsored by Bison volleyball equipment:
Rank/School W-L Points Prev
1. Penn State (50) 12-0 1487 1
2. Texas (7) 7-0 1439 2
3. Washington (3) 10-0 1394 3
4. Hawaii 9-2 1295 4
5. Florida 6-1 1243 5
6. Nebraska 9-2 1143 8
7. Oregon 10-0 1070 12
8. Michigan 12-1 1015 6
9. Minnesota 9-3 955 9
10. Stanford 7-3 943 11
11. Iowa State 9-2 933 10
12. California 7-3 839 13
13. Southern Cal 11-1 769 15
14. UCLA 10-3 756 7
15. Illinois 8-1 732 14
16. Michigan State 12-0 574 17
17. Kentucky 11-1 463 16
18. Florida State 9-1 450 19
19. Arizona 11-0 382 21
20. Wichita State 11-1 346 20
21. UC Irvine 10-2 277 18
22. San Diego 7-3 261 23
23. Saint Louis 7-5 227 22
24. Baylor 12-1 163 24
25. Long Beach State 7-3 106 NR
Others: Pepperdine 32, Texas A&M 29, Notre Dame 26, Oregon State 21, Purdue 21, Dayton 18, UC Santa Barbara 16, Louisiana State 14, Duke 11, St. Mary’s (Calif.) 10, Colorado State 9, Washington State 6, Kansas State 4, Northern Iowa 4, Rice 2.