The 17th-ranked Florida volleyball team put the finishing touches on its NCAA Tournament resume with a 3-0 sweep of SEC foe South Carolina before an O'Connell Center crowd of 2,126 Wednesday night.
UF (24-5, 17-3), which won by scores of 25-14, 25-16 and 25-20, will now wait for the selection committee to make its seeding determinations Sunday, while South Carolina (14-16, 5-15) saw its season come to an end.
“I think we played great tonight,” said UF senior Stephanie Ferrell. “We wanted to finish out the season strong and go into the NCAAs with some momentum.”
UF, which has now won seven straight matches, came into Wednesday's action leading the nation in hitting with a .308 team percentage and proceeded to put on an offensive display, posting an impressive .457 mark. UF took 81 swings on the night and had just seven errors with 44 kills – and did it with balance.
Seniors Kristy Jaeckel (11 kills) and Kelly Murphy (nine kills) led the way, with Ferrell and sophomore Chloe Mann each adding seven kills. Juniors Tangerine Wiggs and Betsy Smith chipped in with five kills apiece, and all six players hit .300 or better.
“It comes easy when we have such amazing hitters who are so dominant all across the board,” said sophomore setter Chanel Brown, who had a match-high 21 assists and added five digs.
“We really found our middles tonight, and again Chloe had a great game. With our pin hitters like Kelly and Steph and Kristy and Tange, we can get swings from anywhere.”
UF also dominated defensively, owning a 7-3 edge in team blocks and a 44-28 advantage in digs while limiting the Gamecocks to a .105 hitting mark.
Redshirt freshman libero Taylor Unroe had a match-high 14 digs, while freshman Holly Pole and Jaeckel each added eight digs.
The NCAA Tournament selection show airs Sunday at 6 p.m. on ESPNU.
Gainesville is already inked in as a host site for one of the four NCAA Regionals this year. UF is hoping to hear that the Gators will host the first and second rounds of action as well.
“I think our resume is solid, and hopefully the committee will do what they have proven is the right recipe with men's basketball, that is, you look at the team's body of work,” head coach Mary Wise said. “Who did you play would be criterion number one, and who did you beat and where did you play them? Our non-conference schedule stands on its own, and the SEC has the fourth-highest RPI in the country.
“We played a terrific schedule, and I think this team should be rewarded for it.”
