The No. 1 University of Florida volleyball team closes its three-match road swing on Sunday when it travels to Auburn, Ala., to take on Auburn. Opening serve in the Student Activities Center is slated for 2 p.m. ET and the match will be carried live on CSS with Justin Cazana and Maria Taylor, and on 103.7 FM The Gator with Cory Stephens.
The Gators (21-1, 14-0 Southeastern Conference), who are riding a 16-match winning streak, are coming off a 3-0 win against Georgia on Friday night in Athens, Ga. Florida hit .418 as a team, marking the team’s highest hitting percentage in a conference match since hitting at a .519 clip against South Carolina on Nov. 27, 2009, and extending the Gators’ streak of consecutive matches hitting better than .300 to five. UF also has limited three consecutive opponents to less than a .100 hitting efficiency.
In Friday’s match, senior outside hitter Callie Rivers (Winter Park, Fla.) turned in a season-high 14 kills on a .462 hitting efficiency with four digs and four blocks for a match-high 16.5 total team points. Junior right-side/setter Kelly Murphy (Wilmington, Ill.) followed with her ninth consecutive double-double with 11 kills on .474 hitting with 22 assists and six digs for 12.5 total points.
The Gators lead the league in three different statistical categories – blocks per set (2.71), service aces per set (1.74) and hitting percentage defense (.162). Florida is the only team in the SEC to have three players rank in the league’s top-10 individually in service aces per set (all matches combined). Murphy leads the league with 0.38 aces per set, Rivers is third in the SEC with 0.33 aces per set, while junior outside hitter Kristy Jaeckel (Littleton, Colo.) is seventh in the conference with 0.29 service aces per set.
On the season, the Gators are led offensively by Murphy, the reigning SEC Offensive Player of the Week, who averages a squad-best 3.25 kills per set, which ranks eighth in the SEC. Murphy is hitting at a .386 hitting efficiency, which ranks second in the conference. She leads the SEC with 0.38 service aces per set, making her the only player to rank among the league’s top-10 individually (all matches combined) in hitting percentage, kills per set and service aces per set, simultaneously.
Jaeckel and Rivers follow with 2.44 and 2.38 kills per set, respectively. Rivers also is second on the team in digs per set with 2.30 and she has hit better than .300 in four consecutive matches.
Freshman setter Chanel Brown (Tempe, Ariz.) dishes out a squad-best 5.52 assists per set, while senior libero Erin Fleming (Orlando, Fla.) heads UF’s back-row effort with 3.50 digs per set, which ranks ninth in the SEC.
The Gators feature three players who average 0.95 blocks per set or better, led by junior middle blocker Cassandra Anderson (Bakersfield, Calif.), the reigning SEC Defensive Player of the Week, who ranks second in the SEC with 1.17 blocks per set. Senior middle blocker Lauren Bledsoe (Long Beach, Calif.) is ninth in the SEC with 1.04 blocks per set, while sophomore right-side Tangerine Wiggs (Seattle, Wash.) adds 0.95 blocks per set.
The Gators and Tigers meet for the 37th time in the history of the two programs, with Florida holding a 35-1 advantage in the all-time series. Florida is a perfect 31-0 vs. the Tigers under the direction of head coach Mary Wise, as Auburn is one of four SEC teams that Wise has never lost to during her UF tenure. The Gators have claimed 32 consecutive meetings between the two teams.
Auburn enters Sunday’s match in third place in the SEC Western Division with a 17-10 overall record and an 8-7 mark in conference play. The Tigers had lost three consecutive matches heading into this weekend, before posting a 3-0 win against South Carolina on Friday night in Auburn. In that match, sophomore outside hitter Sarah Bullock finished with her seventh double-double of the season, tallying 12 kills and 13 digs. Fellow sophomore Katherine Culwell followed with 10 kills, while senior libero Liz Crouch led the defensive effort with 15 digs.
On the season, Bullock leads the Tigers with 2.94 kills per set, while senior outside hitter Morgan Johns and junior outside hitter Kelly Fidero follow with 2.58 and 1.95 kills per set, respectively. Freshman outside hitter Camila Jersonsky is fourth in the SEC with a .381 hitting efficiency, while junior setter Christina Solverson is 10th in the SEC with 6.16 assists per set. Crouch ranks seventh in the league with 3.85 digs per set.
Complete results and a recap of Sunday’s match will be available at GatorZone.com.
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.
SEC STANDINGS (AS OF NOV. 6, 2010)
Eastern Division
| Team | Overall | SEC |
| Florida | 21-1 | 14-0 |
| Tennessee | 20-5 | 11-4 |
| Kentucky | 14-11 | 8-7 |
| Georgia | 11-15 | 3-12 |
| South Carolina | 5-19 | 2-12 |
Western Division
| Team | Overall | SEC |
| LSU | 21-2 | 12-2 |
| Ole Miss | 17-7 | 11-4 |
| Auburn | 17-10 | 8-7 |
| Arkansas | 13-13 | 7-8 |
| Mississippi State | 11-14 | 3-11 |
| Alabama | 9-15 | 1-13 |
FRIDAY’S SEC SCORES
Tennessee 3, Alabama 0
Arkansas 3, Ole Miss 1
Auburn 3, South Carolina 0
Florida 3, Georgia 0
Kentucky 3, Mississippi State 1
