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The Florida volleyball team upset No. 3 seed Kansas at sold-out Horejsi Family Volleyball Arena to punch its ticket Saturday night to the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16, 3-2 (25-22, 21-25, 25-17, 24-26, 15-13).
SWEET 1️⃣6️⃣ BOUND ‼️#GoGators pic.twitter.com/G2zUhN952a
— Gators Volleyball (@GatorsVB) December 8, 2024
“We have had so many challenges and this was another one,” UF coach Mary Wise said. “These guys really stepped up.
“Such a high level, high intensity volleyball match, and it’s too bad it was in the second round. It was worthy of a regional for how well both teams played.”
The Gators (23-7), the sixth seed in the lower left region of the NCAA Tournament bracket, advanced to the regional semifinal against two seed Stanford (27-4) with first serve at 7 p.m. ET Thursday (ESPN2) at the KFC Yum Center in Louisville, KY. The winner would advance to the region final Saturday against the winner of the other region semis between top seed Louisville (25-5) and four seed Purdue (25-6).
Stanford, ranked No. 5 in the country, advanced after sweeps of Sacramento State and Loyola Marymount.
Sophomore All-American Kennedy Martin had another record-breaking 33 kills to add to her UF program record as well as recorded the most kills during a NCAA Tournament match by a Gator. She registered a .310 hitting percentage to finish with a career-high 35.5 points against Kansas (25-5).
Florida, ranked No. 22 in the nation, was also sparked by redshirt sophomore Alexis Stucky, who made her first tournament appearance after starting the third set in the setter’s position. Stucky dished out a team-high 40 assists to lead three Gator attackers (K. Martin, Isabel Martin and Jaela Auguste) to double-digit kills, while tallying seven digs, two aces, one kill and one block in her three sets of play.
Elli McKissock was the only Gator to register double-digit digs with 19.
