Gators Volleyball Takes Down Tennessee

Roughly 240 hours passed before Florida volleyball set foot on the court again.

The Gators hadn’t played a match since September 25 when they fell to South Carolina in five sets. Excluding practices, the team spent 10 days without seeing competitive action against real opponents.

On Wednesday night, the wait was over.

Number 15 Florida got back on the winning column after beating Tennessee 3-1 (26-24, 25-23, 16-25, 25-20) at Thompson–Boling Arena in Knoxville. The Gators now stand at 11-3 on the season with a 3-1 mark in Southeastern Conference play.

Despite securing the win, the Gators looked like a different version of themselves, committing 20 attack errors and 12 service errors in four sets. The Lady Vols also engaged in 15 errant services, leading to sloppy exchanges between both teams.

Florida Escapes With Set One Win

Early in the first set, both teams traded points and capitalized on unforced errors.

Florida attacked the middle court with sophomore middle blocker Bre Kelley and freshman setter Alexis Stucky leading the way. The Lady Vols relied on strong kills from outside hitters Morgahn Fingall and Erykah Lovett to keep up with the Gators’ offense.

With the score tied at 22, Florida jumped ahead with a service error and a block, but the Lady Vols fought back. Following the Tennessee run, the Gators called a timeout and took the following two points to secure the set 26-24.

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Another Close Challenge in Set Two

Tennesse and Florida carried their miscues into the second frame. Both teams engaged in lengthy exchanges and traded points off the heels of service and attack errors early in the set.

The Gators created some distance after scoring four straight points, with the score tied at 15. Tennessee, however, responded to Florida’s attacks with a 9-4 run to tie it at 23. UF outside hitter Marina Markova secured the 2-0 advantage with consecutive kills.

In the second set, the Gators cleaned up their play by posting a .444 hitting percentage and committing only three service errors.

Lady Vols Find Momentum

The third set belonged to Tennessee from the first serve. The Lady Vols jumped off to a 6-3 lead to start the frame and kept a three-point distance for most of the set. With the score at 15-19, Florida attempted to close the gap by calling two timeouts but eventually fell short. Tennessee kept its momentum going with a 6-1 run to secure the win.

The Lady Vols capitalized on 15 kills with just two errors during the set. On the other hand, the Gators had a poor performance with a .095 hitting percentage and zero blocks.

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Gators Seal the Deal

In the final set, Tennessee built a 16-13 lead after both teams got off to a fast start. The Gators struggled to keep up with the Lady Vols’ offense, and the nightmares of the third set loomed closely.

However, Florida bounced back with a robust .371 hitting percentage to command a decisive 12-4 run. The Gators found a spark on Markova’s towering attacks, in addition to outside hitters Sofia Victoria’s and Merrit Beason’s 20 combined kills.

“At different points in the match, we had different people step up, and we found a way,” said Florida head coach Mary Wise.

The Gators return to the Stephen C. O’ Connell center on Saturday as they take on the LSU Tigers at 6 p.m. The match will stream on the SEC Network +.

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