Florida Volleyball Falls Short Against Kentucky

The No. 15 Florida Gators volleyball team let the No. 12 Kentucky Wildcats sink their claws in to halt a five-match winning streak with the 3-1 win Sunday at the O’Connell Center.

Florida (10-3, 1-1 SEC) tried to claw its way back after losing the first two sets of the match by winning the third, but was not able to secure the fourth set to fall 19-25, 20-25, 25-20, 28-30.

Power Players

Sophomore All-American Kennedy Martin was the only Gator who hit double digits, finishing the match with 25 kills to tie her career high. Redshirt senior Isabel Martin finished with nine, and freshman Jaela Auguste with eight. AC Fitzpatrick, Alec Rothe, Taylor Parks and Alexis Stucky also contributed to the stat sheet to give Florida 50 kills.

https://twitter.com/GatorsVB/status/1840470017130795129

Kentucky (7-6 ,1-1) was led by outside hitter Brooklyn Deleye, who finished the match with 24 kills while only one other Wildcat, Brooke Bultema, finished with double digit kills (13). Bultema proved to be a powerhouse middle for the Wildcat as she raked in seven kills in the fourth set.

https://twitter.com/KentuckyVB/status/1840466176323051715

Fifth-year libero Ellie McKissock was the only Florida player to finish with double-digit digs with 16. Kennedy Martin was also dominant from the service line as she finished the match with five aces, Parks with three, Emerson Hoyle with two, while Stucky and Emily Canaan finished with one.

Fight Until End

Florida managed to take control of the fourth set early. Isabel Martin gave the Gators their first lead in the set at 10-9. The Gators then led 15-12 at the media timeout.

The teams began their back-and-forth point battle for the win. Florida had four chances to secure the fourth set, but let Kentucky score back-to-back points in the final stretch that saw the Wildcats take the set 30-28 and match.

https://twitter.com/KentuckyVB/status/1840483029103546528

Up Next

The Gators take on the No. 8 Texas Longhorns at home Oct. 6 at 1 p.m in another major SEC match. Kentucky will face Oklahoma in Lexington on Wednesday.