Gators were hot and cold tonight, but sheer talent won out in the end. The two lesser teams we've played so far were the only two that took us to five sets. Emotional letdowns, I suspect. Happens in every sport.
Should have won in 3 sets. But you could tell they were not focused. A lot of service errors and missed shots. But don't sell this Sac St team short. They are well-coached and disciplined. They played very well tonight. When we set our mind to it, we were Florida. In 2 sets we weren't. We would not have won without AC. She had a look in her eyes and would not be denied. Elli also stepped up with digs and assists when Stuckey had the dig. The last time I looked AC and Kennedy both had 17 digs. We had a lot of fun. The best thing of the night, besides winning was Sandman70 getting creamed by a ball in warmups.
She has a right shoulder injury of some kind. She played against Penn St, and then had ice on her shoulder at some time against USF. I don't remember if she played against Stanford, but has not played since. I certainly hope she heals soon.
Kira played against Stanford in all 3 sets. I hope it's not a chronic injury issue. Backs and shoulders can be difficult to heal. UF needs her full strength and participating to be at its best. Thankfully, AC Fitzpatrick has turned up big which is a great thing in the depth department. On a separate topic, I was glad to see Nnedi Okammor get to play so much. Per her normal, she participated, and she produced, 3.5 points and 2 blocks. Nnedi's play came at the expense of Gabby Essix's playing time who only played two sets. UF won so it was good to develop more depth at MB. I was hoping for a big lead which never materialized so we could see Kennedy Muff and get Madi Gravlee her first playing time. Maybe tonight against Clemson, but more likely against Winthrop on Saturday, unless Winthrop wears green.
Heads up, I watched some of Arizona at Wisconsin last night. The badgers have a server who tosses the ball extremely high and hits through producing a serve that looks like a 100 MPH fast ball from a pitcher. I haven't watched pro volleyball to know, but I've never seen a faster serve in NCAA women's volleyball. She will be tough to handle a week from Sunday. Must say, the badgers looked like the real deal to me last night. They haven't played an easy schedule to be unbeaten and #1 either.
Gabbi just was not having her best night. Nnedi played well when she came in, and so they did not take her out. Gabbi had a broken little finger on her right hand. She told me it is almost healed, but she is wearing it taped for precaution. She warmed up right in front of us tonight and did not seem to be favoring it.
Dang! Playing volleyball with an almost healed little finger can't be easy. At the next match, can you get a personal interview with Kira Hutson to find out how her right shoulder is healing up? The announcers to my knowledge made no comment about her sitting out the last 2 matches.
I agree they did look solid at times. But, 14 service errors are unacceptable. We must clean these up. That is 14 points the opponent was given. If we had gotten 50% of those in, it would make a crucial difference in the score. We cannot do that against Wisconsin. Stuckey did not have her best night setting, but you look at her stat line and go, Wow. The bottom line is that these ladies love each other and play for each other. If you have not read the article by Herb Brooks, 'See How They Celebrate,' it is a must-read. Lastly, I must give props to the students who showed up. The end zone with the band was stuffed all the way to the third level and even over one section. They brought the juice tonight, and it was appreciated by the team and the fans. This is the most student fan support for any sport I have ever seen in the O'Dome. Thanks, students, for your support.
Why doesn’t Mary wear any Gator garb during the games? I can’t recall ever seeing her wear anything with a Gator logo or even Gator colors. Anyone know? Just curious.
Yeah, without the way-high number of service errors, it would have been a total rout. But as it was, Clemson stayed competitive even though we won all three sets. That said, we won it handily and are 6-0. Against Sacramento State, one of the TV talking heads was saying that the parity now all across the nation in volleyball is real, and explained that there are more girls and women participating in volleyball than in any other sport. Therefore, there are tons more good to excellent players out there and that virtually every college team has at least one that plays at a high level. Hence, they can beat you on any given day. This aligns with what I'm seeing and with what I recall from the early days of SEC volleyball, when the talent gap between UF and the rest of the league was glaring. Now, even against the midmajors, almost every point is a contest.
UF won and all I could think about at the time, agreeing with scrappygator, was the huge number of service errors, 14. It was contagious and across the board so can't single out anyone. Someone finally posted a working even if a bit blurry replay on YouTube of UF at Stanford which I watched back-to-back with the Clemson match. The Gators served like a top 3 ranked team, 6 service errors to 14 for Stanford. Look where that got the Cardinal, swept 3-0. Against Clemson, not so much for the Gators but Clemson ain't Stanford or anything like a top tier team. Continue to be highly impressed with AC Fitzpatrick. It will be good when Kira Hutson can play again, but AC has shown she is talented, athletic, and deserves to play regularly. Kentucky won their national championship using a couple of shorter but highly talented and athletic players. UF is blessed to have outstanding depth at OH.
