The top-ranked Gators won a test of nerves against in-state rival Florida State to earn a berth in the NCAA volleyball tournament’s Sweet 16.
UF knocked outlasted the Seminoles 3-2 (20-25, 25-22, 22-25, 25-21,17-15) by overcoming 15 service errors that almost cost Florida coach Mary Wise’s team in a thrilling match on Saturday night at the O’Connell Center in front of 2,431 fans.
“Second round drama – this match lived up to it’s billing,” Wise said after her team won 10 of the final 13 points of the match.
Wise has said over the past few years that the Gators would need to be tested during the season in order to win the program’s first national championship, but she wouldn’t say if Saturday’s tension-packed match was what the team needs for this year’s championship hopes.
“I don’t know if it’s something we needed, but we survived it,” Wise said. “We feel very fortunate right now. Just looking at the box scores, we out-blocked them and we out-hit them, we had three more aces and we out-dug them. What was it? It was our unforced errors. I think we just pressed a little too hard and there is pressure of playing at home, playing FSU. Now we go to a neutral court for the next round. I think that will have a different feel. I feel like, hey we’ve got an extra life. We’re going to take advantage of it.”
The Gators (29-1) came from behind after dropping the first and third set of the match to force a decisive fifth set, and came from behind in that set as well.
“We’ve been fortunate over the years,” Wise said. “I can think of a Regional Final – two of them – we were down 0-2 and came back and won in five. Those were pretty high drama, but I don’t remember being so far down in a fifth set like this.”
Leading 9-7 in the fifth set, Florida State (22-11) inserted senior Taylor Wilson to serve after not playing in the rest of the match. Wilson’s serves extended the FSU lead to 12-7, sending the Seminole players and fans into a frenzy.
“We’ve been in high drama, and as we said yesterday, Second Round matches are some of the best in the tournament,” Wise said. “With very little preparation time from one match to the next, you’re playing a team that’s just coming off a big win – oh yeah, and it’s Florida State. And, again, they played terrific.”
Florida senior Callie Rivers posted a service ace to cut the fifth-set lead to 13-11. A bizarre sequence followed that resulted in a point being replayed.
“I was just hoping to get the ball in bounds,” Rivers said. “I really put a lot of trust in my teammates because I knew if it wasn’t the toughest serve, as long as I didn’t make an error, that we would do it on defense.”
The “up” refree ruled that the Gators had made four hits on a play and stopped the play. However, the “down” referee overruled the call, correctly, because the ball was stuck three times. Florida won the replayed point on a Murphy kill to tie the set at 13-13.
“I think it gave us another chance to continue playing,” Rivers said. “We were still down by a lot and I think our team fought back really hard and we took that opportunity and ran with it.”
Florida State coach Chris Poole attempted to get the call reversal cancelled and keep his team focused in spite of an emotion-packed moment.
“Anything like that is a judgment call from one (official) or the other,” Poole said. “One official thought that she saw one thing, and one thought that she saw another. You don’t know. From an emotional standpoint, obviously that’s very emotional moment for a team to come back in. We still had our chances. That’s where an experienced team will learn to shake things off immediately and step forward. At that point, we were still up 13-11 even with that replay. It was still our game to lose at that point. We just didn’t make the plays down at the end.”
Florida took control in the final moments of the match. Senior libero Erin Fleming had six digs and Rivers had three digs in the fifth set. Redshirt junior Kristy Jaeckel knocked down consecutive kills to end the match, prompting Wise to raise her arms in the air as her team celebrated on the court.
“I thought ‘7-12,’ that’s what I thought in terms of when we took that last timeout,” Wise said. “This team has been here before. We were down 7-12 against Nebraska in Omaha and this team came back and won. So I shouldn’t doubt them. And it wasn’t that I doubted them at all, I just knew that at that specific point, there was no room for error.”
Florida extended its winning streak to 24 matches. The win marked the 20th-consecutive win against Florida State, bringing Wise’s record against the Seminoles to 27-2.
“We really had to play perfect,” Wise said. “The effort level, some of those digs, were just outstanding. This team has surpassed all expectations. It will go down as one of the most fun teams I have ever coached. They show such great heart and such competitiveness. Some nights when it’s not going well, you’re lucky and you move on.”
Wise was pleased with the ability of her upperclassmen to respond to the tense situation.
“Twenty digs by Erin, Lauren (Bledsoe) with the 13 kills, and Callie – which will sometimes go unrecognized – with seven blocks from a left side hitter. That’s really good,” Wise said. “So you can go Callie, Lauren and Erin: it’s no surprise that we can move on. But our juniors weren’t too bad tonight either.”
UF junior setter/opposite hitter Kelly Murphy posted her nation-leading seventh triple-double of the season (22nd of her career), playing a progressively prominent role throughout the match.
“I just felt like me and Chanel (Brown) had a really good connection tonight,” Murphy said. “I had a lot of trust in our passes, our setters and Chanel to be able to get the ball up to me and to be able to get a good look. I thought that the matchup worked out where I was able to get a lot of balls and have success and I credit that to our passing and Chanel.”
Murphy finished with 19 kills, 21 assists and 12 digs. Brown had a career-high 35 assists.
“I think we definitely feel very grateful that we get a chance to play again,” Murphy said. “We’re going to take that – it shows that’s how hard you have to work to get to the end. Now we know what it’s going to take.”
Rivers was grateful to win her final match at the O’Dome.
“I can’t even explain it,” Rivers said. “I think this might have been the best way to do it. If you saw the three seniors and other people on our team, this might have been the most emotional match I’ve ever played in my life. Florida State played unbelievable and I think we’re lucky to continue on.”
FSU had a .382 hitting percentage its 25-20 first-set win. UF had a .273 hitting percentage. It was only the third time the Gators dropped the opening set this season. Fleming had consecutive service aces to tie the first set at 9-9.
The Gators looked like a different team in the second set, playing with more energy and confidence than in the first set. Florida raced to a 4-0 lead on a block by Jaeckel in the second set, prompting Poole to call a timeout and regroup his players. FSU burned its final timeout of the set while trailing 10-4. Florida won the second set 25-22 to even the match, boosted by 23 digs.
“I thought it was a great match,” Poole said. “It’s one of those at the end that can go either way. I’m certainly proud of our girls, coming into this type of environment and this kind of situation and working as hard as they did.
“From 1995 to 2003, when I was at Arkansas, eight of those nine years we were in the finals with Florida in the SEC Tournament, and we battled them every year,” Poole said. “That’s why I came here, to try and add another team to the state of Florida. I have a lot of respect for (Florida head coach) Mary (Wise), and a lot of respect for the Gators and their volleyball program; they’re winners and they’ve been winners. That’s what we’re trying to build at our university also. I think our girls showed tonight that they have a lot of character, a lot of fight and a lot of heart. We’re proud of them for that.”
Florida State appeared to anticipate the Gators’ attacks in the third set. Through two sets, Rivers and Jaeckel combined for 39 attacks from the left side, while Murphy, Bledsoe and Wiggs combined for 37 attacks from the right side. Leading 11-9 in the third set, Wise called a timeout that resulted in more attacks coming from the right side.
“It’s all about what’s open, and I think the setters did a really good job of distributing the ball,” Jaeckel said. “When people had opportunities, they used them the best they could. It’s all about even distribution of the ball and where we can get kills.”
Jaeckel finished with 18 kills and 12 digs.
Florida State went on a 6-1 run in the third set after trailing 19-15, prompting a timeout by the Gators. Florida attacks hit the antenna twice during the 6-1 run by the Seminoles. Rivers was pulled in favor of junior Stephanie Ferrell during the timeout.
FSU held on for a 25-22 win in the third set.
Murphy had a run of three-consecutive kills in the fourth set to put the Gators up 20-15. Her next kill gave the Gators a 21-17 lead, giving her 1,000 kills in her career.
Florida took the fourth set, 25-21, to force a decisive fifth set. The Gators had nine blocks in the set.
Junior middle blocker Cassandra Anderson’s 12 total blocks set a UF single-game mark for a NCAA Tournament match and her three solo blocks tied for the second-most ever for a Gator in a NCAA Tournament match. Anderson additionally chipped in a career-high eight digs.
Saturday’s match was both emotionally and physically exhausting for the Gators. It lasted 2:34, the longest NCAA Tournament match in Florida history, and UF’s 169 total attempts was a season-high.
“We made some uncharacteristic, unforced errors,” Wise said. “We know that to make a run in this tournament you have to be healthy, you have to have some pretty good talent and once in a while you have to catch a break.
“I think we caught a break tonight,” Wise said. “As my good friend Steve would say, ‘Maybe the Gods were smiling on the Gators this evening.’ Now we’ve used our break. To continue, to have any chance of playing one more match, we’ve got to create that (opportunity).”
Florida is the only Southeastern Conference team remaining in the NCAA Tournament. Six SEC teams were part of the field of 64.
Poole said he would be happy if the Gators went on to win the national championship.
“They’re playing with a lot of confidence,” Poole said. “There’s not a lot of weaknesses there. Their junior class was the No. 1 recruiting class in the country, and Kelly Murphy could easily be the National Player of the Year this year. They’ve proven themselves this year. They have beaten some great teams and have found a way to win, even when they have been down. That’s an experienced team on their part. They have a lot of experience out there on the court. I certainly wish them the best of luck in the tournament. I’d just assume them go all the way in and win it and beat everyone else in three games. That’d be fine with me.”
Florida will travel to Austin, Texas to face 16th-seeded Purdue on Friday at Gregory Gymnasium, marking the 19th time in the past 20 years that UF has reached the NCAA regional semifinals.
Wise graduated from Purdue in 1981 after playing as a setter for the Boilermakers.
“It was so long ago that I graduated from there that I think it’s really lost that part of it,” Wise said. “What I think we’re going to do is play a team that’s won 23 matches and gone through the Big Ten. You know they’re tough.”