Watching the South Carolina match, one thing is clear: opponents are putting a tall hitter over Muff when she's on the front row and just firing away. Oh, she also has a "tell" when she attacks on the second contact: she does a small two-footed hop, lands, then goes up and dumps it over.
Just finished watching the Gators beat South Carolina 3-1 in Columbia. 25-19, 25-19, 23-25 & 25-20. South Carolina is now 6-7, 0-4 in the SEC and while in control much of the match, Florida struggled at times with consistency. 13 service errors, most of them killing momentum. They hit the ball with much more efficiency, hitting .347 for the match with only 11 attack errors. Gamecocks had 51 digs to our 36, but we had 13 blocks to their 8. Muff had 44 assists, 3 kills and 2 service aces. All of our outside hitters were very good today, but it just seems like without Stuckey every match is going to be a grind, even when we have more overall talent than our opponent. It's fun watching this team, as they clearly love each other and play with heart. Next up is a rematch with Auburn in Gainesville, Friday night at 7 pm on SEC+. Then they turn around and host Alabama Sunday afternoon at 1 pm on SEC+. Tennessee is 4-0 in the conference and Arkansas is 3-0, so every match win is crucial.
As the television commentators noted, Gator fans travel well. At least watching on TV, seemed like 25% of the crowd was UF. For those who traveled and attended, any tips for those considering that in seasons to come? Was this general admission? How early did you have to arrive to get in before they started turning fans away? Having never been there, also interested in any comments on atmosphere. Seemed like a pretty good VB facility (albeit small) but with a low ceiling.
to make it easier on yourself you can always download Istat3 once you input everything it will breakdown everything for you. I would always hand my assistant the the tablet and let them keep stats lol.. too much going on directing traffic and instructions to work the tablet at the same time. I did have an account for solo stat (rotate123) but let the account laps. I like this one as well but it’s not cheap. There’s also hudl which I can almost guarantee UF is using for all matches.
Muff is improving every match as a setter. She had much more connection with Martin yesterday. She is never going to be 6'2" and have the court presence of Stuckey, but I am really heartened by her progress.
I still want AC to give it a go in those situations. She is tremendously more athletic than Muff so opponents can't just put a big hitter in front of her plus it adds another UF hitter on the front row. It makes sense to me but apparently if doesn't make sense. (shaking head) I hope one of these ex-coaches/players can tell me why. When asked prior to the aTm match, CMW said UF doesn't really have a setter backup. BTW, I didn't see Kira Hunter on the sideline at South Carolina. I'm beginning to think Kira is headed for a redshirt or a medical redshirt. For the person who asked the other day, Kira has been nursing a shoulder injury, so she hasn't played since at Stanford.
I agree that it would be good is we had a second setter. As you say, AC is more athletic than Muff. I don't know if AC is an option at setter or not. Next year, hopefully, Stuckey is healthy. We have Taylor Parkes coming in as a setter, but I would not want to depend on her.
I'm a volleyball fan, but not an expert of the game by any means. But it doesn't seem to me that the setter position is one you can just throw somebody in to play there without prior experience. Sure, Fitzpatrick is a great athlete who is undersized as an outside hitter who has performed extremely well this year. But that's the position she's played, seemingly, all her life - at least since high school. Anna Dixon has agreed to help the team by moving from OH to the middle, but the positions are somewhat similar. The setter has to see the whole floor and instinctively know where and how to make passes in a split second and, to me, that would take a lot of work and practice to get really good, especially at the elite D1 level in the middle of a season. I just don't see Coach Wise asking that of A.C. or any other player who has never played setter before. If I'm wrong, please tell me and explain so I can better understand.
You are not wrong.. most setters are trained majority of their playing career as a setter. Replacing Alex is a tall task. You are trying to replace a 6’2” setter that drew attention from the defense at all times. Her high contact above the net freezes that middle blocker and defenders just enough so when 1 tempo and zero tempo was ran it was easier to find the gaps. muff just doesn’t have the height to play above the net consistently. Hitters have learned to be interchangeable in the position from MH OH RS..
It wouldn't be an easy task for AC to accomplish, but she is physically gifted, and it would be a big help to the team if she could. I hope it has at least been tried in practice. According to CMW, UF has no one if Muff goes out with an injury. That's a terrible place to be in.
AVCA Rankings 10/2 DI Women's Volleyball Rankings - AVCA Rankings | NCAA.com UF leads the SEC at #9 followed closely by UTn at 12 and Ark at 13. Kentucky is 22 and AU is tied at 25. atm would have likely joined the ranked club but they lost 3-1 to Mizzou at home on Sunday. The Tigers had no trouble adjusting to control aTm's left-handed freshman hitter while UF allowed her to put up Freshman of the Year stats.
Earlier this week, I was driving on Stadium and saw Hoyle, Stuckey, and Cannan walking between the Lemerand and the Heavener. I stopped and put down the passenger window. They looked at me with frowns on their faces and were wondering who is this old perv. But, after I told Stuckey that I was sorry she was injured, and wished her a speedy recovery, they were all smiles.
Should have followed up with is Kira going to be able to play again this season. Guess you were too busy being an old perv.
Muff is getting better every match but she is not Alexis. Number 9 is probably the correct ranking for these girls but if Alexis had not been injured Gators would be #1 and undefeated.
