Top Ranked Gator Volleyball Stumbles Against No. 8 Kentucky

All good things have to come to an end.

That was the case Sunday afternoon as the Florida Gator volleyball team took its first loss of the season at the hands of the eighth ranked Kentucky Wildcats. Florida won the third set after falling down two sets to none but the Wildcats were too much as they fell three sets to one.

Rachael Kramer, Carli Snyder and Rhamat Alhassan all scored over 10 points for Florida; Kramer led the way with a team leading 17 points. Freshman Paige Hammons tried her best to subdue the Wildcat attack as she had 13 digs on the afternoon.

https://twitter.com/GatorsVB/status/919646837853782016

Learning Experience

Kramer says that even though the team has learned a lot from past close victories, she thinks they will learn more from this loss.

Kentucky had a 69% attack percentage in the first set. Kramer says that she was impressed that the Wildcats came out guns a blazing out of the gates.

Gator coach Mary Wise says that her team will be able to move on from this loss rather quickly. She said that it’s still early in the season so they have a lot of time to get better.

Big Blue Statement

Wise had very high praise of Kentucky following the match. Wise said that she believes that the Wildcats are capable of making the Final Four.

Sunday’s victory was the first time Kentucky had beaten a number one team in program history. The win did not come out of nowhere as the Wildcats have been showing how good they are over the course of the season. Coming into the match, Kentucky had won 10 matches in a row.

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The Wildcats were led by sophomore Leah Edmond who had a team leading 19 points. McKenzie Watson was largely responsible for keeping the Gators attack in neutral as she finished with a total of 16 digs.

What’s Next?

With their first loss of the season, the Gators now fall to (14-1, 6-1 SEC).

Florida will try to bounce back against Alabama next Friday as they travel to Tuscaloosa. The match is set to begin at 8 p.m.

Tough day, but we'll bounce back. 14 in a row to start the year was a great ride! pic.twitter.com/bM1PbF7CKQ

— Gators Volleyball (@GatorsVB) October 15, 2017