Glad to get the dub. We have some work to do. Need to be playing our best at the end of the season. Go Gators!
It is interesting that the first three SEC Conference Volleyball matches go to 5 sets. Competition in the SEC will be tough.
Gators were out of system most of the match. Credit OK for disrupting our flow. That 6"7 OH was a monster. Fortunately our middle blockers came through in the final game. We need to clean up our service errors. Good, gritty road win.
Think she is having a hamstring problem. She didn't make the trip to OU, at least I didn't see her on the sideline.
OU has an excellent 2nd year HC, so they have leadership going for them. As I mentioned going into the match, OU is much improved year over year. I was in no way surprised by how the sooners performed. UF had to battle plus have good fortune to pull out the win. The core of players OU has will lead to wins in the SEC. They may be middle of the road for the SEC, but they are a talented team. Going into the match, I knew about Kari Geissberger 6'7" OH who beat us all night except for in the final set when the Gators had to stop her to win, Kelli Jo Burgess MB, and Alexis Shelton OH, the best player on the OU team. What I didn't realize was coming at the Gators were Kamilla Gibson OH freshman from Tennessee who didn't play at UTn due to injury and had a huge night, Lydia Martyn MB, and Payton Chamberlain, the sooners outstanding setter. I will be surprised if OU doesn't compete well in the middle of the SEC. They gave the Gators all they could handle last night. If not for the Gators performing at a high level in the last 2 sets, UF would have left Norman, Oklahoma with their first opening match SEC loss since 1990.
Not trying to jinx us but.....need to schedule time away from work. The championships are Dec 19-23 in Louisville. Based on that date, anyone have an idea/quess when first and second round would be? I can't find anything official on the Internet but still need to put in for leave.
2024 NCAA volleyball tournament schedule Selection show: 6 p.m. ET Sunday, Dec. 1 on ESPNU First and second rounds: Thursday, Dec. 5 through Saturday, Dec. 7 Regionals: Thursday, Dec. 12 through Saturday, Dec. 14 Semifinals: Begin at 7 p.m. ET Thursday, Dec. 19 on ESPN National championship: 3 p.m. ET Sunday, Dec. 22 on ABC
We lost power at 8:05 PM, just at the end of the 2nd set, so missed the great comeback. Just got power restored at 6 pm Friday. Any win on the road is excellent, but the Gators are still showing rust from not having all their players working together for very long. Can't wait for the next match vs. Kentucky. Gotta play better to beat them.
Auburn reversed swept Kentucky tonight 3-2. Auburn won its first sets from Kentucky since 2019 and beat Kentucky for the first time since 2009. Both teams had 20 or more service errors. (That most certainly will improve)
The 5th set win was especially sweet after watching the OU setter and a couple of her teammates mugging for the camera while OU was up big in the 5th.
The SEC is going to be brutal, as Mary Wise's dominance over the last 25+ years has caused other schools to elevate their games to make for much better competition. And now with the addition of Texas & Oklahoma, the confernec has just gotten even better. Texas is the team to beat, but there are no easy wins anymore in the SEC - thanks to the GOAT - Mary Wise.
Did anyone else see Mary go talk with the "bench" at the end of the timeout at 20-14 in the 4th set? It is around the 1:50 mark. Vogel was getting the heck out of Dodge. I could not tell if she was coaching them or admonishing them. It looked a little of both, maybe. Maybe I'm not observant enough, but that was not something she usually does.
Couldn't be happier for Auburn putting an L on UK. I watched the first 3 sets before dozing off. The tigers looked like warmed up crapola for the first 2 sets and then completely turned things around in the 3rd set. I wish I hadn't dozed off as I missed the completion of the comeback and the AU win. Anytime UK loses in volleyball is a good thing. Hopefully, the Gators will tag the mildcats with loss #2 on Sunday. The match will be on ESPN at 1 PM ET.