Gators Volleyball Looks to Bounce Back Against South Carolina

After a surprising loss against unranked Texas A&M on Wednesday, the Gators volleyball team looks to bounce back against the South Carolina Gamecocks on Sunday.

Wednesday Recap

Each set was proven to be a battle. In four of the five sets, the final score was as close as two points. As the teams went back-and-forth throughout the match, the Aggies were able to take set five by a score of 15-13.

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The Gators offense was led by Kennedy Martin (16 kills) and AC Fitzpatrick (15 kills). Additionally, Sofia Victoria put up 14 kills. Notably, libero Elli Mckissock had 19 digs, moving her into fourth place on the all-time digs list in program history.

The Gators struggled more offensively, as the Aggies defense initially came out strong. The Aggies also had a combined hitting percentage of .217 for the night. Caroline Meuth, an Aggies outside hitter, had 19 digs alongside her 12 kills. Moreover, Logan Lednicky put up 22 kills with a .390 hitting percentage.

While a culmination of differing errors is what mainly brought the Gators to the loss, individual performances from multiple Gators stood out. Specifically, Kennedy Muff has seemed to be getting more comfortable in her role of starting setter, after a season ending injury took out previous starter Alexis Stucky. Muff recorded her second double-double of the season and finished the match with 42 assists.

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South Carolina

This marks game four of SEC play for the Gators, and the Gamecocks are currently 0-2 so far in SEC play after losing to both Arkansas and Missouri.

Offensively, Riley Whitesides leads the Gamecocks in kills so far this season with 100. Lauren McCutcheon is not far behind with 95 kills, and Campbell Paris is third on the team in kills with 83.

Last season, the Gators and Gamecocks split their season series. The Gators won the first match in four sets, while South Carolina came back the next day and won in five sets.

Tipoff is set for 2 p.m. in Columbia.