There wasn’t much celebrating in Barnhill Arena in Fayetteville, Ark., last Friday night.
It was on that evening that the No. 1 University of Florida volleyball team defeated Arkansas, 3-1, to clinch the 2010 Southeastern Conference title outright. It was the fulfillment of one of the team’s goals, especially for the Gators’ senior class, which had vowed to win back the conference title after not winning in 2009 for the first time in 18 years.
“There wasn’t a whole lot of celebrating after Arkansas,” senior libero Erin Fleming said. “There won’t be unless we accomplish our goal of being undefeated SEC Champions. I don’t think we’ll celebrate unless that’s done.”
While Florida achieved a goal by winning the SEC title, the Gators know there are still many goals they want to accomplish this season, beginning with Friday night’s 7 p.m. ET tilt at South Carolina. The Gators are looking to become the first team in SEC history to go 20-0 in conference play.
“We’re in a position on Friday night to do something that hasn’t been done since 2003 and that’s to go undefeated in the league,” Florida head coach Mary Wise said. “I was one of the people who said that I don’t know if we will see an undefeated SEC team again. There’s just too much parity, too many good players and a double round-robin schedule is just grueling.”
It would mark the 12th time that Florida has gone undefeated in conference play in its program history and the first time any SEC team has gone 20-0. The league instituted a 20-match double round-robin format prior to the 2006 season in lieu of playing a conference tournament.
“This year, we wanted to focus on being, hands down, the best team in the SEC,” Fleming said. “We still have to get through South Carolina. Hopefully we will win and that will be a great accomplishment.”
