The 17th-ranked Florida volleyball team put the cap on UF's Homecoming weekend by sweeping visiting Ole Miss, 3-0, before an O'Connell Center crowd of 1,831 Sunday.
With the win, the Gators improved to 19-5 overall and 12-3 in Southeastern Conference play, staying hot on the heels of No. 20 Tennessee and No. 24 Kentucky for the SEC East and overall titles.
The Rebels (9-14, 5-11) came to town on a four-match winning streak, but the Gators put them away by scores of 25-13, 25-22 and 25-10, taking just an hour and 15 minutes to finish the sweep.
UF got a match-high eight kills apiece from senior outside hitter Kristy Jaeckel and redshirt sophomore middle blocker Chloe Mann, seven from junior middle blocker Betsy Smith, and five from senior All-America right-side hitter/setter Kelly Murphy, who added 14 assists and five digs in another solid all-around performance.
“We've talked a lot about keeping our confidence up there, and we know that we need to be playing our best volleyball at this point in the season,” Murphy said. “In practice, it's been just sort of refocus on the Gators and work on the things we needed to work on, and I think we did a really good job today of doing that.”
Redshirt freshman libero Taylor Unroe came through with a match-high 12 digs, Jaeckel added nine and true freshman Holly Pole, a former Ocala Vanguard standout who made her first career start Sunday, had a season-high seven digs, just two shy of her entire season total.
“It was definitely exciting,” said Pole, a two-time Ocala Star-Banner Player of the Year.
“I've gotten to play a few points here and there, but I played a lot on Friday (all three sets) and today I got my first start, which was really exciting. I just feel fortunate for the opportunity.”
Pole is the second local product to make an impact of late, joining Mann, who got her second straight start and fifth of the season. The 6-1 Eastside product, who has been dominating since coming off the bench against Kentucky, had a solo block and a match-high five block assists while hitting a match-high .667.
She finished with 11.5 points, tying Jaeckel for match-high scoring honors.
“Chloe and I are really close,” Pole said. “We played together in Gaineville Juniors and against each other in high school, and it's definitely cool that we both get to start because we both have a lot of family and friends that come to the games.”
The efforts of Pole and Unroe helped the Gators to a 40-25 edge in digs. UF, which also owned an 8-3 advantage in team blocks, held the Rebels to a negative hitting percentage in two of the three sets and to an .057 mark for the match.
“I thought it was just mainly due to our sideout efficiency (38-of-47, 80 percent) and our transition defense,” UF head coach Mary Wise said. “Their big-time point scorers never got untracked,” .
The Gators travel to play the top two teams in the SEC West, LSU (17-8, 10-5) and Arkansas (17-9, 9-6), this Friday and Sunday, respectively.
“It is one of the challenging road trips in the league,” Wise said. “You've got LSU, who always plays us tough at home, and Arkansas, who is really playing well and is looking for that one signature win to get them in the NCAA Tournament.”
