The No. 2 University of Florida volleyball team heads west this weekend for a pair of Southeastern Conference matches, traveling to Tuscaloosa, Ala., to face Alabama at 8 p.m. ET Friday and to Starkville, Miss., to take on Mississippi State Sunday at 2:30 p.m. ET. Friday’s match will be carried live on ROCK 104 (103.7 FM), while Sunday’s match will be aired live on GatorVision Online and WRUF-AM 850 with Cory Stephens handling the play-by-play.
The Gators (12-1, 5-0 SEC) are on a seven-match winning streak and are coming off a pair of wins against No. 16 LSU and Arkansas at home this past weekend. Florida leads the SEC in both blocks per set (2.67) and service aces per set (1.73) and is the conference’s only team to have three players rank in the league’s top-10 in service aces.
Florida, which played nine of its first 12 matches against teams ranked in the AVCA’s top-25, is No. 1 in the NCAA’s first release of the Women’s Volleyball Ratings Percentage Index.
“The challenge is now to go on the road this weekend at Alabama and Mississippi State,” Florida head coach Mary Wise said. “We understand this is the last year Alabama is playing in its small auxiliary gym and I’m sure it will be packed. We expect a huge crowd on Friday night as there always is there. Sunday will be a challenge at Mississippi State facing one of the leading blockers in this league [Ashley Newsome]. 2-0 weekends are hard to come by in this league and we were fortunate to be one of the teams that were able to do that last weekend.”
The Gators are led offensively by junior right-side/setter Kelly Murphy (Wilmington, Ill.), who leads the team and ranks 10th in the SEC with 3.06 kills per set on .358 hitting, which ranks fifth in the league. Murphy also is third in the SEC in service aces with 0.39 per set, making her the only player in the SEC to rank in the league’s top 10 in kills, aces and hitting percentage simultaneously.
Junior outside hitter Kristy Jaeckel (Littleton, Colo.) and senior outside hitter Callie Rivers (Winter Park, Fla.) follow with 2.41 and 2.19 kills per set, respectively. Rivers is fourth in the SEC with 0.33 service aces per set, while Jaeckel is ninth in the SEC with 0.29 service aces per set.
Jaeckel became last Sunday just the 20th person in school history to reach 2,000 career attacks. Through 74 career matches, Jaeckel now has 2,016 career attacks. Marcie Hampton (2004-07) is UF’s all-time leader in career attacks with 4,204.
Freshman setter Chanel Brown (Tempe, Ariz.), the reigning SEC Freshman of the Week, leads the team with 5.33 assists per set, while senior libero Erin Fleming (Orlando, Fla.) heads the squad’s back-row effort with 3.54 digs per set.
Florida is led by a dominant blocking brigade that ranks 21st in the nation with 2.67 rejections per set. The Gators feature three players averaging better than 0.9 blocks per set, led by junior middle blocker Cassandra Anderson (Bakersfield, Calif.), who is fifth in the SEC with 1.17 blocks per set. Senior middle blocker Lauren Bledsoe (Long Beach, Calif.) follows with 1.04 blocks per set, which ranks seventh in the SEC, while sophomore right-side Tangerine Wiggs (Seattle, Wash.) adds 0.92 rejections per set.
This weekend’s opponents are two of four SEC foes that Wise has never lost to during her tenure at Florida. The Gators are 30-0 against Alabama under Wise and 27-0 vs. Mississippi State.
The Gators and Crimson Tide meet for the 33rd time in the history of the two programs, with Florida leading the all-time series 32-0, including a 30-0 tally under Wise.
Alabama enters Friday’s match in last place in the SEC Western Division with an 8-7 overall record and an 0-5 mark in league play. The Crimson Tide are led by sophomore outside hitter Kayla Fitterer, who ranks seventh in the SEC with 3.31 kills per set. Senior right-side Alyssa Meuth and freshman outside hitter Brianne Vande Griend follow with 3.06 and 2.54 kills per set, respectively. Sophomore libero Kelsey Anderson ranks third in the SEC with 4.96 digs per set, while senior setter Kayla Schmidt is ninth in the league with 6.33 assists per set.
Head coach Judy Green is in her 15th and final season at the helm of the Alabama program, having announced prior to the season that she will be retiring at the end of the 2010 campaign. Green has a record of 234-222 (.513) during her time at Alabama and a 630-296 (.680) record in her 25th season as a collegiate head coach, having spent 10 seasons directing the program at Montevallo.
For all of the latest information on Florida volleyball, please log on to www.GatorZone.com/volleyball. Follow Florida Volleyball on Twitter at www.twitter.com/GatorZoneVB and Coach Mary Wise on Twitter at www.twitter.com/GatorMary.
Complete results and a recap of Friday’s match will be available at www.GatorZone.com.
QUICK NOTES
• Florida is ranked No. 2 in the latest American Volleyball Coaches Association Top-25 poll for the second consecutive week, marking the Gators’ highest national ranking since the final poll of 2003. It is the highest Florida has been ranked during the regular season since checking in at No. 2 on Sept. 16, 1997.
• The Gators, who are ranked No. 1 in the NCAA’s first Women’s Volleyball RPI of the 2010 season, have played perhaps the nation’s toughest schedule during the 2010 campaign, facing nine top-25 opponents over their first 12 matches.
• Florida’s 615 wins since 1991 are the most of any team in the nation during that time period.
• The 2010 campaign marks the 27th season of Florida volleyball (beginning 1984). The Gators are 771-168 (.821) all-time in program history.
• Florida is the only team in the SEC to have three players ranked among the league’s top-10 in service aces.
• Junior right-side/setter Kelly Murphy is tied for the national lead in triple-doubles this season with Northern Iowa’s Bre Payton, as both have recorded four triple-dips in 2010. Murphy is Florida’s school-record holder in career triple-doubles with 19.
• Murphy currently ranks ninth on Florida’s all-time career assists list with 1,629 dishes. Accomplishing that in just 75 career matches is an impressive feat, considering she has spent all but six matches of her collegiate career in a 6-2 offensive scheme.
• Murphy is the only player in the league currently to rank in the SEC’s top-10 in kills per set, service aces per set and hitting percentage simultaneously.
