Florida Volleyball Preview: 2016 Blackbird Invitational

After leaving the Spartan Invitational with a three-game clean sweep and one of their players being named the Spartan Invitational MVP, Head Coach Mary Wise and her No. 8 Florida Gator Volleyball team head back up north for the Blackbird Invitational this weekend.

The 4-1 Florida Gators left Michigan last weekend without dropping any sets in their three matches. Saturday morning’s match against Central Michigan (2-4) marked the first of three matches that the Gators would win that weekend, with a 3-0 sweep (25-10, 25-17, 25-10). The Gators turned around for a match a few hours later, where they would play and sweep the Morgan State Bears (0-7) a few hours later (25-11, 25-12, 25-9). Sunday’s match against the host team Michigan State (5-7) ended the same way the first two did, adding another clean sweep for the Gators  (25-13, 25-16, 25-19).

Junior outside hitter Carli Snyder left the invitational as the Spartan Invitational MVP, adding 43 kills to her stats. Those 43 kills gave Snyder the No. 2 ranking in the SEC for kills this season. Snyder is joined in the top-10 by teammate Right Side hitter Alex Holston, who holds the No. 10 spot.

.@carli_snyder is OUR POW! MVP of the Spartan Invite, Carls hit .494 on the week, had 4.78 k/s & 4.89 p/s! #GoGators pic.twitter.com/FvoKnDK3Bs

— Gators Volleyball (@GatorsVB) September 6, 2016

With their most recent weekend proving to be such a success, the Florida Gators are looking for a repeat of what they did at the Spartan Invitational. The Gators will face two teams this weekend at the Blackbird Invitational, 4-3 Denver and the 0-6 hosting LIU Brooklyn Blackbirds.

Head Coach Mary Wise looks forward to the team’s first game against Denver, a match-up she expects to be a challenge.

The Gators face Denver Saturday morning at 11 a.m. and follow with a game against LIU Brooklyn, Sunday at noon. Both games can be heard streaming live on wruf.com.