Sunday afternoon will go down as one of the greatest matches
in the history of the Florida-Tennessee volleyball rivalry, as the Lady Vols upset
the No. 13 Gators, 2-3 (25-17, 21-25, 29-27, 23-25, 17-19), in front of 2,475
Gator faithful at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center.
Florida’s loss is their first of the Southeastern Conference
slate and the Gators’ lead in the race for the SEC title is now three matches.
UF falls to 19-4 in 2012 and 13-1 in SEC play, while UT moves to 17-6 on the
year and 10-4 in conference action. The margin of victory in each set was an
average of 3.6 points, the smallest in the 54-match history of the series.
“Obviously we would have loved a different outcome but I
can’t say enough about the heart our team showed in light of what we were
dealing with,” Florida head coach Mary Wise said. “Tennessee played very
well; they took advantage of our unforced errors and that really was the
difference. We’re obviously disappointed with the outcome; we would have loved
to have won it but that was great volleyball. It was a great SEC matchup and
you have to credit Tennessee for how well they played.”
Florida was led by freshman outside hitter Živa Recek (Kočevje,
Slovenia), who tallied her sixth career double-double with career highs in both
kills (26) and digs (20), the first Gator to register 20+ kills and digs since Kisya
Killingsworth recorded 23 kills and 20 digs on Sept. 17, 2006 at South
Carolina. Recek added three blocks for 27.5 points on the afternoon.
“Živa has been more than solid for us all season,” Wise noted.
“She’s one of those players that has the ability to go to another gear. Živa’s
performance, she didn’t get a lot of great looks, but boy, did she work for
those kills she made today.”
Junior middle blocker Chloe Mann (Gainesville, Fla.)
registered 19 kills on a .567 hitting percentage to go along with a team-high
five blocks, while seniors Betsy Smith (Atlanta, Ga.) and Tangerine
Wiggs (Seattle, Wash.) tallied 14 kills apiece, combining for seven blocks
on the afternoon. Junior Taylor Brauneis (Crystal Lake, Ill.) had a
career day, dishing out an all-time career-high 67 assists, turning in her
second double-double of her Gator career with 12 digs.
Sophomore defensive specialist Madison Monserez (Orlando,
Fla.) shined for the Gators on Sunday, setting a new career high with 23 digs,
the first time this season and third time in her career to lead Florida in that
category. Sophomore libero Taylor Unroe (Muncie, Ind.) scooped 20 digs
for her second match of the season with 20+ digs and fellow sophomore Holly
Pole (Ocala, Fla.) registered 12 digs for her second double-digit dig
performance of 2012.
The Gators out-hit (.223-.200), out-dug (100-90) and
out-killed (78-65) the Lady Vols, but service errors and hitting errors proved
to be costly for the Orange and Blue. Florida had 16 service errors on the
afternoon and Tennessee stuffed 19.0 blocks, the most for a Gator opponent
since the Lady Vols put up 21.0 against UF at Thompson-Boling Arena on Oct. 30,
2005.
Florida took the opening set, 25-17. The teams battled to
open the frame, with the Gators taking a 9-4 lead behind huge Mann-Wiggs and
Recek-Mann stuff blocks. Florida continued to roll using back-to-back Wiggs kills
and a Tennessee hitting error to lead 12-7. Consecutive Mann kills and a
well-placed swing to the back corner by Recek gave the Gators a 17-11
advantage, and the Lady Vols took timeout after an attacking error pushed the
UF lead to seven, 20-13.
Out of the break, Tennessee strung together three straight
to force a Gator timeout at 20-16. A Recek kill down the pipe ended the LV run
and another kill from the Gator rookie put UF within two of the set, 23-17.
Mann found the open court behind the block to set up set point for the Orange
and Blue and Recek put away the set for the Gators with a smart roll shot to
the left front, 25-17.
Despite coming back from a seven-point deficit to tie the
set at 18-all, the Lady Vols won the second stanza, 25-21. Tennessee took an
early 5-1 lead to open the frame but Florida battled back, using a slam through
the triple block for Mann and a Mann-Brauneis roof to pull within one, down
5-6. UT went on a 3-0 run after the Gator block and took an 11-6 lead after
back-to-back Lady Vol kills, forcing a Florida timeout. Wiggs slammed one off
the block to pause the UT streak, 11-7, and kills by Recek and Smith cut the UT
lead to three, UF down 12-9. Tennessee went on a 4-0 run to take a 16-9 lead,
courtesy of kills by Robinson and a UT block.
The Gators didn’t let down and capitalized on UT errors to cut
the Lady Vols’ lead to four after a Brauneis ace, UF down 17-13. Brauneis
served up another stunner and Florida got within two after a Recek kill, UF
down 17-15. Back-to-back kills by Mann tied the set at 18-all, forcing a Tennessee
timeout. The Lady Vols went on a 5-2 run out of the timeout to force a Florida
timeout with the Gators down 23-20, and continued the streak, taking the second
set, 25-21.
The Gators won a crucial third frame, 29-27. Florida used
Recek kills to go ahead, 2-1, in the early going, with the teams tying three
times and exchanging the lead twice. The Lady Vols took as much as a three-point
lead at 8-5, but the Gators stormed back, using a Whaley solo stuff to spark a 4-1
rally to lead 10-9. A Smith slam and a Recek-Smith stuff block out of the
Tennessee timeout gave the Gators a 12-9 lead, and consecutive Recek kills put
Florida ahead, 14-11. Slams by Mann and Wiggs gave the Orange and Blue a 17-15
advantage, and Florida won a pivotal rally to lead 19-17.
A Recek kill off high hands continued the Florida two-point
edge, 20-18. A Wiggs-Mann stuff block and kills by rookie outsides Recek and
Whaley put the Gators within two of the set, 23-20, as UT burned a timeout. The
Lady Vols scored two straight out of the break to force Florida to take a
timeout of their own, 23-22. A UF hitting error tied the set at 23-23 as the
Gators burned their second timeout in as many points.
A UT service error gave the Gators set point, 24-23, but UT
tied the set again, 24-24. A Smith slide kill put Florida at set point for a
second time, 25-24, but the Lady Vols tied it at 25-all. A Recek kill broke two
more UT ties to give the Gators their fourth set point, 27-26. Tennessee tied
the set once more but kills by Mann and Wiggs tilted the set in Florida’s
favor, 29-27.
The Lady Vols took the fourth stanza, 25-23. The teams
battled to open the fourth, as Tennessee burned a timeout after a Lady Vol
hitting error, 5-3. UT scored two straight out of the timeout to tie the set at
5-5 and UF took timeout after the Lady Vols gained an 8-7 lead. Tennessee took
as much as a four-point lead with Florida down 12-8, but a Simone Antwi (Fairfax
Station, Va.)-Brauneis stuff briefly stopped the UT run, UF down 12-9.
The Gators cut the UT lead to one and overpass kills by
Whaley and Antwi tied the set at 19-19. Recek kills tied the frame at 20, 21
and 22, but a UT kill tilted the set towards the Lady Vols as the Gators burned
a timeout, down 23-22. A Slam by Mann tied the set at 23-all but back-to-back
kills by Jeter gave UT the set, 25-23.
Tennessee took the final frame, 19-17. The teams traded
points to open the fifth and decisive frame, as consecutive kills by Recek and
a slam by Wiggs gave the Gators a 3-2 advantage early in the deciding frame. UT
scored two straight to force a Florida timeout with the Gators down, 6-4. Smith
slammed three kills in four points to give the Gators an 8-6 lead at the changeover.
A UT attacking error put Florida up by three, 9-6. Tennessee scored two
straight out of the timeout to cut the Florida lead to one, 9-8, but a Smith
kill halted the streak, 10-8.
UT stormed back to tie the set at 12-12, using a block to
force a Gator timeout. A Robinson kill gave Tennessee a 13-12 advantage but
Mann found a seam in the block to tie things at 13. A Robinson kill gave UT
match point, 14-13, but kills out of the middle from Mann and Smith gave the
Gators match point, 15-14. UT earned another match point off a UF hitting
error, 17-16, but Smith earned a kill off the slide to tie things at 17-17. UT
tallied a kill to set up another match point, 18-17, and a UT block ended the
match, 19-17.
Florida hits the road next weekend to play Missouri and Ole
Miss for a second time in 2012. The Gators travel to Mizzou for the first time
in program history, facing off against the Tigers at the Hearnes Center on
Friday evening at 8 p.m. ET. The Orange and Blue take on the Rebels in Oxford
at 2:30 p.m. ET on Sunday afternoon. The Gators swept both the Tigers and the
Rebels earlier in the season.
