Joining head coach Mary Wise's Gators, who rose to No. 4 in the latest American Volleyball
Coaches Association (AVCA) poll released Monday, will be three-time defending NCAA champ and top-ranked Penn State, perennial power and second-ranked Stanford, and 2009 NCAA runner-up and No. 5 Texas.
Stanford (5-0) and Texas (5-1) get things started Friday at 5:30 p.m., with Florida (5-0) facing off against the powerful Nittany Lions at 7:30. Penn State (6-0) enters the weekend having won a record-breaking 108 consecutive matches.
The Gators, who began the season ranked No. 13, have already defeated three top-15 teams, having taken down No. 9 Iowa State, No. 2 Nebraska and, most recently, No. 15 Colorado State.
Wise, however, was quick to caution that Penn State, despite some key losses to graduation, is still a formidable opponent.
“They have not lost a match since September of 2007 (to Stanford),” she noted. “Yes, they did graduate some terrific talent including the starting setter for our women's national team right now, but they return two first-team All-Americans and one of the best liberos in the country. So with this team, despite what they lost to graduation, they are unbelievably talented, as are Texas and Stanford. This is going to be some really, really good volleyball.
“In terms of the tournament this weekend, the credit for this has to go to the Penn State coach, Russ Rose. It was his idea, his concept, and he got all the coaches to agree to the format, which had to have some work because of football scheduling and so forth. But the way it works is it will rotate to each of the four campuses.
Next year, we're at Stanford, and then we go to Texas, and the fourth year we go to Penn State.”
Saturday's matches will pair Friday's winners and losers. Florida will take on either Stanford or Texas on Saturday at 4:30 p.m., followed by the other of those two teams taking on Penn State at 6:30.
Single-match tickets are $4 for adult general admission seats. Admission is free for children age 17 and under and for UF students who present their Gator One cards. In addition, anyone with a ticket stub from the UF-South Florida football game will be admitted free of charge to Saturday's action.
Soccer:The No. 7 UF soccer team will put its ranking and unbeaten record on the line when the Gators take on fifth-ranked FSU Friday in Tallahassee, the first of five straight road matches for Florida.
The Seminoles (5-1) are coming off a 3-2, 2 OT upset loss to Auburn, while UF (5-0) shut out Jacksonville, 6-0, in its previous match.
“I think our team is really looking forward to this match,” Gator coach Becky Burleigh said. “It's one of the highlights of the season when you're playing your rival.
“These matches have historically been really, really close, so we're pretty excited about the game coming up.
“There's always a big crowd. I think we've set their attendance record the last couple of times we've been out there, and we probably expect the same thing this weekend.”
UF owns a 10-7 edge in the all-time series, but FSU has won three of the last five matches, including a 1-0 OT win in Gainesville last season.
Friday's 7 p.m. match is not televised but can be heard live on WRUF-AM 850, while live stats and streaming audio will be available at www.GatorZone.com.
