TAMPA – The fourth-ranked Florida volleyball team suffered its first loss of the season Saturday evening as No. 3 Washington completed a 3-0 sweep (25-17, 25-10, 25-19) of the Gators in the Tampa Twice Tournament hosted by South Florida at its Sun Dome.
The Gators (6-1), who were held to an .067 hitting efficiency by the 8-0 Huskies, were led again by sophomore outside hitter Colleen Ward. She totaled 8 points with seven kills and two blocks.
Washington hit .359 in the match and outblocked the Gators 7-4. The Huskies also had three players record double figures in digs.
“What makes Washington so good, besides how talented they are, is that they make very few mistakes,” Florida coach Mary Wise said. “Their numbers all season and their numbers today reflect that. There is a huge gap right now between how Washington played today and where the Gators are today. Our goal is to get back to work, starting tomorrow, and to narrow that gap so that the next time we play a team as talented as Washington, we will be in the match.”
Sophomore right-side setter Kelly Murphy had six kills and tied junior setter Brynja Rodgers with a team-high 12 assists. Sophomore middle blocker Cassandra Anderson led Florida with three blocks. Senior libero Elyse Cusack, who has posted double-figure digs in each of the team’s matches this season and ranks fourth on the Southeastern Conference’s all-time career digs list, recorded a squad-best 13 in the match. Sophomore outside hitter Kristy Jaeckel (Littleton, Colo.) added nine digs and four kills for the Gators.
Florida opens its Southeastern Conference play at Ole Miss Friday at 8 p.m.
Florida beats South Florida: In the Friday night opener of the tournament, outside hitters Kristy Jaeckel and Colleen Ward combined for 29 kills and 21 digs to lead the Gators to a 3-1 (25-13, 18-25, 25-23, 25-10) victory over the host Bulls before 3,067 at the Sun Dome.
The Gators had three players with double-figure kills for the sixth time this season and posted their fourth straight victory in a match that went four or more sets.
“We will look back at this and think that this is one of those matches where our team really grew up,” Wise said. “In this environment, with as good a team as South Florida has this year, with all of their seniors and all of their experience, it was a real gut check. I thought out team showed a lot of grit against a very good team.”
Florida posted a season-high 11 blocks to tie South Florida. Sophomore middle blocker Cassandra Anderson had seven of the block, the fifth time this season she has had four or more blocks.
Ward tied her career high with 16 kills and added eight digs and three blocks to finish with a match-high 17.5 points. Jaeckel posted her fifth career double-double with 13 kills and13 digs. Junior Lauren Bledsoe had 11 kills and two blocks, while senior Kristina Johnson finished with seven kills and four blocks. Sophomore right-side setter Kelly Murphy had a career-high 27 assists and eight digs, while Brynia Rodgers had 18 assists and six digs. Senior libero Elyse Cusack had 17 digs.