Florida Gators outside hitter Kennedy Martin (18) reacts to scoring a point in the first set at Exactech Arena at The Stephen C O'Connell Center in Gainesville, FL on Tuesday, September 17, 2024 against the Florida State Seminoles. [Doug Engle/Gainesville Sun]

Florida Volleyball Secures Must-Need Win At Missouri

Samandryn Jacobi November 16, 2024 Gators Sports, Gators Volleyball, NCAA, SEC, Volleyball 32 Views

The No.21 Florida Gators volleyball team continued its winning streak Friday, while ending No. 25 Missouri’s nine-match roll in five sets.

Florida (19-5, 10-3 SEC), with an eight-match winning streak, overtakes Missouri (18-6, 9-3) in the SEC standings. UF sophomore opposite hitter Kennedy Martin set a program record of 32 kills in the 15-25, 25-21, 27-25, 22-25, 15-6 win in Columbia.

Game Recap

Florida took a tough Set 1 loss, 25-15. Missouri came into the match with high energy and forcing pressure on the Gators early on in the match. Missouri focused a lot of its time on shutting down the Gators with a big block, forcing many hitting and defensive errors.

The Gators were able to turn their loss around as they gained momentum in Set 2, especially from K. Martin in the back row. Fifth-year libero Elli McKissock notched her 2,000 career dig to help lead the Gators to 25-21 win. McKissock finished the match with 24 digs.

Isabel Martin added 12 kills to UF’s total.

Not much was seen from the middles as Missouri forced the Gators to make many scramble plays throughout the five sets.

Match Stats

The Gators finished the match with 84 points, but just a .245 hit percentage. True freshman middle Jaela Auguste finished with nine kills.

Florida continued to be a force from the service line, finishing with seven aces from Emily Canaan (3), Taylor Parks (2) and McKissock (1).

Mckissock led the Gators in digs and was followed by Canaan with 11 and I. Martin had eight. Florida finished with 67 digs.

Up Next

Florida will be on the road again Wednesday to face the Auburn Tigers (14-10, 4-9) at 7 p.m. ET (SEC Network, ESPN 98.1-FM/850-AM WRUF).

The Gators will then return home to take on the UCF Knights on Nov. 23 for their last home match of the regular season.

 

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