Ole Miss got off to a fast start in the 2nd set and some bad passes, 4 service errors and spotty defense allowed the Rebels to win the 2nd set 25-19. One thing I've noticed is that AC Fitzpatrick is being subbed out when it's her turn to serve. Ole Miss is not known as a blocking team and Florida is supposed to be the more physical team, but so far they have 7 blocks to our 3.
Didn't catch beginning of game and haven't heard and don't want to bring up if already mentioned, but what's happened with Alexis Stuckey playing first set but then benched afterwards and not starting today? Sorry if already mentioned.
Really good, competitive match. Gators tighened up their passing in the 3rd set, played excellent back row defense and held of an Ole Miss comeback at the end of the 3rd set to win it 25-22. Kennedy Martin excellent as always, but Isobel Martin, Alec Rothe and Taylor Parks also having very good games. Parks has 38 assists and 8 diogs so far and the best Gator runs have been while she's serving. Ellie McKissock has 15 digs and 3 assists. Hitting pretty even for the match. .250 for Florida, .239 for Ole Miss.
Gators had some excellent serving from several players in the 4th set and Kennedy Martin scored whenever they needed a big one, leading UF to a 25-18 win in set 4 to clinch the match. 6th straight win for Florida. 16-5, 7-3 in the SEC now. Taylor Parks is really getting more and more confident with each match as the setter. Not sure what the deral is with Alexis Stuckey (knee probably still not 100%), but Parks is playing very well as setter. 48 assists today, 10 digs, 3 blocks, 2 aces and 2 kills. McKissock had 20 digs, Emily Canaan 10 and Izzy Martin 7. K. Martin with 22 kils (.236), Izzy with 11 kills (.300), Rothe with 9 kills (.417) and 5 blocks to lead the Gators.
There don't seem to be any elite teams in the SEC, but man is it competitive with lots of fun matches to watch.
Maybe we have a few elite teams that beat each other with other really good squads. Maybe the SEC is now like the Big Ten and what used to be the Pac10 in volleyball,
We shall see when it gets to NCAA tournament time, but I don't think that's the case. The Big 10 and ACC have elite teams. Nebraska, Penn State and Wisconsin from the Big 10, Pitt, Stanford and Louisville from the ACC. All 6 are in the Top 7 with Creighton. Texas was supposed to be the elite SEC team and has lost 3 straight SEC games, today to a mediocre Oklahoma team. The SEC only has 3 teams ranked in the Top 25 right now - Texas at #9 (and they're going to drop), Kentucky at #14 and Florida at #24.
TX lost to OU 2-3 today slipping them into a tie with the Gators 7-3 after their win over Ole Miss 3-1. KY beat UGA 3-0 and is now solely in 1st place, 8-2. Missouri did not play and remains 7-2 and in 2nd place. TAM is now 6-4 with a loss to Mississippi State 0-3 and slips into 4th place.
No letdowns in the SEC. UTx is not used to playing highly competitive matches every week. They will adjust. The shorthorns have very good talent as evidenced by being back-to-back national champions. They might have incorrectly figured they had the SEC wrapped up after beating both UF and UK early on. Comparing to last season, OU is much improved as UTx found out yesterday and as we witnessed when the Gators played the sooners earlier in the season. UF is not out of winning the conference. The Gators have to take it one match at a time starting with back-to-back home matches with Auburn and Alabama. Can't look ahead to at Mizzou as there are no let downs in SEC play. AU swept the Gators 3-0 last season and beat UK this season. Letdown and you lose.
5 straight wins for the Gators. I think we're fitting the pieces nicely now and that includes Parks, as she gets more comfortable each week with the height, athleticism, and power of the college game. I sure hope Stucky can regain her old form but for now we gotta go with the freshman. She's not only setting with precision, she's got some sneaky-good attacks at the net. Stucky had that before her injury and then we lost it at the setter position after the injury. The talking heads mentioned yesterday that Coach Wise had been saying that Kennedy has gotten much better at serving of late. It was evident to me that she has. Huge boost for the Gators.
In the first set, primarily the 2nd, the ball was set too close to the net, which is why Ole Miss had so many blocks. The hitters had no room to maneuver. Some of that was passing, but not all of it. Parks adjusted as the match went on. Major props to our defense. Emily had one of her best matches, with some spectacular digs. Eli did, also.
TX beats Miss St 3-1 and Mizzou beats UGA 3 - 1, Mychael Vernon is a Kmart type of a hitter and is the real deal.
UF off to a hot start tonight vs Auburn. Dominated the first set 25-14. Hit .560, 16 kills, 3 aces and 13 assists and 2 aces from Taylor Parks. Kennedy Martin with 6 kills, hitting .750.
