(VB) Ongoing Volleyball Thread

Didn't see a 3-0 Gators sweep coming over the #2 Cardinal in their house. I couldn't watch the PAC 12 Network but did watch the live stats at floridagators.com. Mary Wise/UF are now 6-9 all-time against Stanford.

So sweet it is to give the Cardinal some payback after losing to them in 5 sets last season in a match the Gators were good enough to win but didn't. It was nice to see UF put away the extended set which is something they couldn't do last season giving away a bunch of set points which ultimately cost them the match.

No, Mary Wise has not been passed up by the women's volleyball world. Time for somebody to start warming up their crow. Match time #8 and #2 have now been shown what the 2023 Gators are capable of doing.

 

I’ll begin thawing the crow.

 

I hope Merrit Beason watched the match. I wonder what she will think when Gators surge past Nebraska next week in the national poll. I said at one time I wouldn't mention her name on this board again. Sorry, I had to give her one last shot.

 

Maybe she saw the writing on the wall when CMW landed Kennedy Martin and Kira Hutson.

 

Dominating the SEC all those years was fun but it didn't do us any favors and didn't make us better. We need competition all season long to be able to match up against the elites.

 

It's hard to believe, but UF actually upgraded compared to the big hitters we lost from the 22 team:

Upgrade: Kennedy Martin 6'6" OH more dominate than Marina Markova 6'5" OH who was not as physically dominating.

Equal: Kira Hutson 6'3" OH early on proving to be as good as Merritt Beason 6'3" OH.

Upgrade: Anna Dixon 6'3" MB/OH while Bre Kelley 6'4" MB isn't as flexible and sometimes went quietly through matches.

UNL has played nobodies, so the huskers haven't been tested yet. I do hope Beason freezes her butt off in Lincoln.

Pitt lost last weekend to BYU. Bre Kelley can't be happy about that. Glad UF has Anna Dixon for her GS year.

I can hardly wait to see this team play Minnesota this weekend. It's time to give some more payback for a 2022 road loss.

Pull off a win over Minnesota and it isn't farfetched to think it possible that #1 Wisconsin will be coming to Gainesville to play #2 Florida in a couple of weeks.

Whomever made the 2023 schedule must have had a good idea that the Gators were going to be pretty good this season.

 

For those of us who don't have access to the PAC 12 Network, Gators Volleyball has a few short videos and some photos from the Stanford match, enough to give a flavor of the match:

Gators Volleyball (@GatorsVB) / X (twitter.com)

Enjoy!

 

Have to feel good about this team, if they can stay healthy they will only get better.
There will be bumps along the way for certain, too young to think otherwise....but the components seem to be really solid

 

If you have Sling TV, you can watch the PAC-12 Network.

 

There was a play by Kennedy Martin last night that had the TV announcers gushing with superlatives. Kennedy got the set and went up for the kill, but two of Stanford's star bigs were in perfect position to block it and went up in tandem to stuff her. No problem. Martin skied way above their outstretched hands and hammered it over them untouched for the kill. They didn't even get a finger on it.

 

A Gators sport that was televised! Whoa! Thank you PAC 10 or 12 on the 10 or 12 PAC channels. Taped that baby and watched it at 1:30 am (during the storm). What an incredible win! 3 game sweep, against Stanford, in “their” sport, on their home court! Whoa! Really incredible. Congrats, ladies! Congrats, Coach Wise! Go Gators!

And they’re on TV again this weekend! Whoa! Go Gators!

 

I can have anything I'm willing to pay for. On the whole, Sling is not worth paying for to me. It's just unfortunate that YouTube TV doesn't offer the PAC 12 Network even within bundled additional sports add on that I would have considered. Agree or disagree, YouTube TV is the best streaming network provider at this time.

 

For us, agree big time!

 

13-minute YouTube highlight reel from last night.

 

Kennedy Martin might finally be the dominant force Florida has needed to put itself for the top. She’s special and what I thought Thayer Hall would be. Hard to believe she was only the #18 ranked recruit in her class, they completely missed the mark with that evaluation.

 

Unfortunately for Thayer, nagging injuries kept her from being that force.

 

Mary’s unbelievable coaching already paying off big time

 

The full match vs. Penn State is on YouTube. At Stanford will likely be in a few days as well.

Florida Vs Penn State | Women's Volleyball Aug 25, 2023 - YouTube

Enjoy! After the first set anyway.

 

#21 Arkansas almost pulled the upset of #1 Wisconsin in Little Rock losing the 5th set 15-13.

#1 Wisconsin vs Arkansas Highlights | NCAA Women's Volleyball | 2023 College Volleyball - YouTube

 

Nebraska just set the world record for attendance at a women's sports event. Any event, at any level. 92,000 at the football stadium to see the volleyball match against Omaha. Amazing, and hats off to Nebraska.
Meanwhile, we get around 3,000 for the biggest matches in Gainesville, and much fewer for the lesser matches. Scott Stricklin, please make it a priority to put asses in the seats for UF volleyball and women's basketball. It takes work and money and lots of PR to make it happen but it will pay off in the long run. There's no reason or excuse for not getting 5,000 to each match this season.
Nebraska volleyball sets world record for attendance at a women's sporting event, at above 92,000, school says | CNN