No. 1 Florida’s 13th straight victory certainly didn’t come easy Sunday afternoon in the Stephen C. O’Connell Center. But thanks to a double-double from junior right-side/setter Kelly Murphy, the Gators shrugged off a tough Kentucky effort in a 3-0 (25-21, 28-26, 25-13) victory.
The Gators, now 18-1 overall and 11-0 in the SEC, hit .346 for the match, their ninth match over .300 this season. Florida, which hit a combined .330 in victories over Kentucky and Tennessee last Wednesday, held the Wildcats (11-11, 5-7 SEC) to .207 hitting.
Murphy had a match-high 12 kills on .526 hitting and added 16 assists. She finished with 14.0 total points.
“I thought Kentucky came in here, played really loose and played hard,” Florida coach Mary Wise said. “There were some good rallies early on. I don’t know that the first two sets were necessarily great volleyball execution and we didn’t see that until the third set. It was kind of like which team was going to make the fewer number of errors, but that’s rally scoring. Unforced errors are magnified because of rally scoring and I have to give credit to Kentucky, up until the third set, they were toe-to-toe with us.”
Senior outside hitter Callie Rivers had eight kills on .375 hitting to complement six digs, while senior middle blocker Lauren Bledsoe added six kills on .400 hitting with three blocks.
Florida, which recorded just one block through the first two sets of the match, got into a groove in the third set, charting five blocks in the final frame alone and hitting an impressive .611 in that set.
“In the first two sets, we were missing plays that we should have made,” Rivers said. “Kentucky obviously played really, really well, but there were also things that we thought that we could correct. In the third set, we really tried to think about what we’d worked on the past three days in practice and implement those things.”
Sophomore right-side Tangerine Wiggs had five kills on .364 hitting with three blocks, while junior outside hitter Kristy Jaeckel also chipped in five kills. Senior libero Erin Fleming had a match-high 12 digs, while freshman setter Chanel Brown had a team-high 18 assists and posted a match-high two service aces.
Kentucky had a 6-5 lead in the first set and increased it to 8-5 with consecutive kills from Gretchen Giesler and Witney Billings. Trailing 10-7, Florida ran off five points, using a resounding Murphy kill, to take a 12-10 lead. Kentucky tied the match on kills by Becky Pavan and Giesler before Florida went on a 6-0 run with kills from Jaeckel, Murphy and Bledsoe for a 19-13 lead. Kentucky closed to 23-21 on kills from Pavan and Blaire Hiler, but a Brown service ace wrapped up the first set for Florida, 25-21.
In the second set, the lead went back and forth with neither team up by more than two points. A pair of Murphy kills gave Florida a 23-21 lead, but a Giesler kill and a Christine Hartmann block knotted the score again at 23-23. The teams fought through three more ties until a Wiggs kill gave Florida a 27-26 lead and a service ace by Brown gave Florida a 28-26 second-set win.
The Gators opened the third set with a 3-0 run on an Anderson kill and a block from Murphy and Anderson. Two Murphy kills stretched the Florida lead to 7-2, but Kentucky battled back within three, 11-8, on a Florida attack error. But a 6-0 run, highlighted by a Jaeckel block and a Murphy kill put Florida up 18-9. Junior outside hitter Stephanie Ferrell had a pair of kills, Bledsoe and Wiggs had consecutive blocks and a Bledsoe kill finally ended the third set, 25-13, and the match.
Florida is home Wednesday for another nationally televised match on ESPNU against South Carolina. The first serve at the O’Connell Center is at 7 p.m.
SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE STANDINGS
EASTERN DIVISION SEC/Overall
(1) Florida 11-0/18-1
(21) Tennessee 8-4/16-5
Kentucky 5-7/11-11
Georgia 3-9/11-12
South Carolina 2-9/5-16
WESTERN DIVISION SEC/Overall
(17) Louisiana State 10-2/19-2
Mississippi 10-2/16-5
Auburn 7-5/16-8
Arkansas 4-8/10-13
Mississippi State 3-8/11-11
Alabama 1-10/9-12
RESULTS
Sunday / Oct. 24
Florida 3, Kentucky 0 (25-21, 28-26, 25-13)
Arkansas 3, Georgia 1 (18-25, 25-23, 25-23, 25-22)
Tennessee 3, South Carolina 0 (25-16, 25-15, 25-14)
Mississippi 3, Alabama 2 (28-26, 19-25, 23-25, 25-19, 15-10)
Louisiana State 3, Auburn 0 (25-20, 25-20, 29-27)
Wednesday / Oct. 20
Florida 3, Tennessee 0 (25-20, 25-23, 25-20)
Mississippi State 3, Alabama 1 (25-23, 23-25, 25-18, 27-25)
Friday / Oct. 22
Louisiana State 3, Georgia 2 (25-21, 20-25, 27-25, 26-28, 15-10)
South Carolina 3, Kentucky 0 (25-21, 25-23, 29-27)
Mississippi 3, Mississippi State 1 (17-25, 25-19, 25-23, 25-20)
Auburn 3, Arkansas 0 (26-24, 25-16, 25-15)
SCHEDULE
Wednesday / Oct. 27
South Carolina at Florida, 7 p.m. (ESPNU)
Louisville at Tennessee, 7 p.m.
Friday / Oct. 29
Florida at Mississippi, 8 p.m.
Georgia at Kentucky, 7 p.m.
Auburn at Tennessee, 7 p.m.
Mississippi State at Louisiana State, 8 p.m.
Alabama at Arkansas, 8 p.m.
Sunday / Oct. 31
Auburn at Kentucky, 1 p.m. (FSN)
Georgia at Tennessee, 2 p.m. (CSS)
Mississippi State at Arkansas, 2:30 p.m.
Alabama at Louisiana State, 2:30 p.m.
South Carolina at Mississippi, 2:30 p.m.
Friday / Nov. 5
Florida at Georgia, 7 p.m.
Kentucky at Mississippi State, 8 p.m.
South Carolina at Auburn, 8 p.m.
Tennessee at Alabama, 8 p.m.
Mississippi at Arkansas, 8 p.m.
Sunday / Nov. 7
Florida at Auburn, 2 p.m. (CSS)
South Carolina at Georgia, 1:30 p.m.
Kentucky at Alabama, 2 p.m. (FSN)
Mississippi at Louisiana State, 2:30 p.m.
Tennessee at Mississippi State, 2:30 p.m.
Tuesday / Nov. 9
Kennesaw State at Georgia, 7 p.m.
Thursday / Nov. 11
Mississippi State at Florida, 7 p.m.
Friday / Nov. 12
Louisiana State at Tennessee, 3:30 p.m.
Mississippi at Georgia, 7 p.m.
Arkansas at Kentucky, 7 p.m.
Alabama at South Carolina, 7 p.m.
Saturday / Nov. 13
Mississippi State at South Carolina, 7 p.m.
Sunday / Nov. 14
Alabama at Florida, 1:30 p.m.
Louisiana State at Kentucky, 1:30 p.m.
Arkansas at Tennessee, 2 p.m. (CSS)
Mississippi at Auburn, 7 p.m.
Friday / Nov. 19
Florida at Arkansas, 8 p.m.
Auburn at Alabama, 8 p.m.
South Carolina at Louisiana State, 8 p.m.
Georgia at Mississippi State, 8 p.m.
Kentucky at Mississippi, 8 p.m.
Sunday / Nov. 21
Florida at Louisiana State, 2 p.m.
Georgia at Alabama, 2 p.m. (CSS)
Tennessee at Mississippi, 2:30 p.m. (ABC)
Auburn at Mississippi State, 2:30 p.m.
South Carolina at Arkansas, 2:30 p.m.
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.
Thursday / Nov. 25
Georgia at Auburn, 7 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