Florida’s AC Fitzpatrick (0) hits the ball during the Tuesday volleyball match against the Florida State Seminoles at the O’Connell Center. [Gabriel Velasquez Neira/WRUF]

Gators Volleyball Grabs Fifth Consecutive Win

Jada Ross November 4, 2024 Feature Sports News, Gators Sports, Gators Volleyball, SEC, Volleyball 122 Views

The No. 24 Florida Gators volleyball team won its their fifth consecutive match Sunday by defeating Ole Miss, 25-22, 19-25, 25-22, 25-18, at the O’Connell Center.

The Gators’ 3-1 win improved their record to 16-5 overall and 7-3 in the SEC, while the Rebels dropped to 14-8, 4-6.

Where Magic Happened

Set 1

Florida and Ole Miss exchanged the early points of the first set until an ace by Taylor Parks gave the Gators a two-point lead.

After tying the score at 10, Ole Miss suffered back-to-back errors to give Florida the momentum. While the Rebels were already down, Alec Rothe and Kennedy Martin jumped in with a block to give the Gators a 13-10 lead.

A three-point run put Ole Miss ahead 15-14 before the media timeout. Some kills by Isabel and Kennedy Martin kept Florida in the set, but some of the defensive issues Florida has been facing came back.

Another ace by Parks allowed Florida to tie the set at 21-21. Florida then pushed through to close out the final stretch of the set with kills and a block by Rothe and AC Fitzpatrick.

Set 2

Unfortunately, the Gators did not bring the momentum into the beginning of the set, starting off down 4-0. Kills by Isabel and Kennedy Martin finally put Florida on the board.

However, multiple errors by Florida allowed Ole Miss to snag a 10-5 lead. Out of the timeout, the Gators bounced back with multiple kills by Rothe and Isabel Martin.

The Gators struggled to keep up their momentum and energy throughout the set. Errors by UF gave the Rebels a 16-13 lead. Even with kills by Kennedy Martin and an ace by Libero Elli McKissock, Ole Miss was still able to keep the Gators under 20 points for the 25-19 victory.

 

Set 3

Unlike the previous set, Florida started energized with a long rally to grab the first point with a kill by Isabel Martin. Ole Miss took the lead after attacking errors by the Gators, but kills by Jaela Auguste and Isabel Martin and a block by Rothe evened the score at 9-9.

A service error by the Rebels allowed Florida to take the lead at 11-10.

 

Florida led 18–13 following kills by the Martins and Amaya Thomas. A back row kill by Kennedy Martin put the Gators ahead 20–15. Though the Rebels answered with two points, the Gators brought them to match point. Ole Miss handed UF match point with a service error to close out the set 25-22.

 

Set 4

The final set of the match was a back-and-forth battle with errors from both sides. The Gators got themselves into several serve-receive ruts and struggled to get out of them. After a much-needed media timeout for both teams, the Gators came out of the huddle stronger than the Rebels.

An ace by Kennedy Martin and a setter dump by Parks gave Florida a 17-13 advantage to force Ole Miss into its first timeout of the set.

However, the Gators did not stop there. Determined to avoid a fifth set, Florida closed out the match strong with an ace and stand-out defense by Emily Canaan, as well as kills and blocks by Rothe and Kennedy Martin.

 

Gators Getting It Done

Parks has been a key factor in the Gators’ success the past few weeks of her freshman season. She played a strong match, making new marks on the stat board. Parks tied her career-high of three blocks, recorded her third career double-double with 48 assists and 10 digs and is now ranked 19th in program history for 533 career assists.

 

Parks wasn’t the only Gator to cause some ripples in the pond Sunday. Emerson Hoyle tied her season high of two digs and Canaan set a season high with her double-digit total of 10 digs.

McKissock also finished with double-digit digs (20). She now ranks second in program history with 1,968 career digs, ninth for career aces (135) and 20th for career assists with 512.

Kennedy Martin led the Gators with 22 kill and Isabel Martin 11 kills. Kennedy Martin also continued her streak of recording double-digit kills in all 42 matches.

Up Next

The Gators will stay home for back-to-back matches against Auburn (14-7, 4-6) at 7 p.m. Friday (SEC Network, ESPN 98.1-FM/850-AM WRUF) and 1 p.m. Sunday against Alabama.

 

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