After knocking off the Nos. 9 and 2 teams to start the season, the Florida volleyball team moved from No. 13 to No. 6 in the second American Volleyball Coaches Association poll of the 2010 season.
Last Saturday, Florida opened the season with a 3-1 victory over No. 9 Iowa State in the Runza/AVCA Showcase at Omaha, Neb. Then on Sunday, coach Mary Wise’s Gators pulled off another stunner, beating No. 2 Nebraska, 3-2.
Penn State, the three-time defending NCAA champion, remained No. 1 after beating host North Carolina, Villanova and Campbell all by 3-0 scores to run its consecutive-match winning streak to 105. The Gators and Nittany Lions will meet Friday, Sept. 10 in first round of the Nike Big Four Volleyball Classic at the O’Connell Center, and the Lions’ streak could be 108 coming to Gainesville.
Two other teams in the two-day tournament field at Florida – Texas and Stanford – were ranked Nos. 2 and 3 followed by No. 4 Hawaii and No. 5 Illinois. Following No. 6 Florida are Nebraska, Minnesota, Washington and Southern California.
Colorado State, one of three teams Florida will face while hosting its Campus USA Credit Union Invitational, is ranked No. 15 after winning twice last weekend. The tournament opens Friday at 10 a.m. with Bowling Green and Colorado State. Florida meets Albany at 12:30 p.m. Colorado State plays Albany at 5 p.m. and Florida plays Bowling Green at 7:30 to end Day One of the tournament. On Saturday, Florida will play Colorado State at 4 p.m. and Bowling Green meets Albany in the tournament’s final match.
AVCA DIVISION I TOP 25 POLL
For Aug. 30, 2010
1. Penn State (51) 3-0
2. Texas (5) 3-0
3. Stanford (4) 3-0
4. Hawaii 3-0
5. Illinois 3-0
6. Florida 2-0
7. Nebraska 1-1
8. Minnesota 3-0
9. Washington 2-0
10. Southern California 3-0
11. California 2-0
12. Iowa State 1-1
13. Florida State 3-0
14. UCLA 2-1
15. Colorado State 2-0
16. Kentucky 0-2
17. Tennessee 3-0
18. Oregon 3-0
19. Michigan 2-1
20. Dayton 3-0
21. Louisiana State 3-0
22. Northern Iowa 3-0
23. Long Beach State 4-0
24. Arizona 2-1
25. San Diego 1-2
Others: Ohio State, New Mexico, St. Mary’s (Calif.), Cal Poly, Michigan State, Baylor, San Diego State, Texas A&M, Missouri, Pepperdine, Duke, Toledo, Cincinnati, UC Santa Barbara, New Mexico State, Wisconsin, Utah, Rice, Missouri State, Oklahoma, SMU, FlU, Santa Clara.
MURPHY HONORED: Junior right-side/setter Kelly Murphy of Florida has been named the Southeastern Conference’s Offensive Player of the Week for her stellar performance at the Runza/AVCA Showcase last weekend in Omaha, Neb. Murphy helped lead the Gators to a pair of wins against top-10 teams, beating No. 9 Iowa State and No. 2 Nebraska.
Murphy was named to the all-tournament team, averaging 3.00 kills per set on .400 hitting with 5.44 assists per set, 2.00 digs per set and 0.56 blocks per set over the course of the weekend for an average of 3.50 points per set.
Murphy was nearly unstoppable in the Gators’ upset of second-ranked Nebraska. She turned in her 16th career triple-double on Sunday, tying her career high with 20 kills on .514 hitting with 23 assists, 10 digs and three blocks for 22.5 total points.
Against ninth-ranked Iowa State, Murphy posted seven kills, 26 assists, eight digs and two block solos. She played every point of every rotation for the Gators during their nine sets this past weekend, setting and attacking in a 6-2 offensive scheme.
The honor is the third of Murphy’s career, also being named SEC Offensive Player of the Week on Sept. 29, 2008 and Oct. 19, 2009.
SEC HONORS BARNEY: McKenzie Barney scored a goal in each of her Florida’s soccer victories over the weekend and was named the Southeastern Conference’s Offensive Player of the Week on Monday. It was the second straight week that a Florida player was so honored. Tahnai Annis received the award in Week 1.
Barney scored the first goal in Florida’s 3-0 victory Friday over Florida Atlantic and then had the only goal in the Gators’ 1-0 victory over San Diego State Sunday. The two goals extended Barney’s home goal-scoring streak to six matches. For the season, Barney has 3 goals and 2 assists.
Florida (4-0) plays host to Jacksonville (2-2) on Friday at 7 p.m. in Pressly Stadium. The first 1,000 fans receive free Gator Soccer replica jersey t-shirts courtesy of Gatorade, and the first 200 youth soccer players will receive orange pompoms.