Florida entered the NCAA tournament with the nation’s most efficient offense, coming in as the only team with a hitting percentage above .300.
After two victories in Cedar Falls, Iowa, last weekend, the Gators are headed to their seventh straight Sweet 16, and it appears not much has changed on the efficiency front.
“We were able to find the open player and able to put the ball where we needed to in order to score,” senior outside hitter Kristy Jaeckel said after Saturday’s 3-1 victory against No. 6 seed Northern Iowa.
In a season full of complete offensive performances, Florida put on two of its best displays inside the McLeod Center.
After stumbling out of the gates Friday in a first-set loss to Missouri, UF reeled off an impressive three-set run during which the Gators out-hit the Tigers .246 to .008. During the stretch, Florida committed 10 fewer attack errors than Missouri but still finished the match slightly above its season attack errors-per-set average of 4.03.
The miscues were made up for by gaudy backcourt defensive numbers. The Gators average 13.4 digs-per-set on the year but averaged 20.5 on Friday night in a match that saw Jaeckel, senior setter and right-side hitter Kelly Murphy, freshman defensive specialist Holly Pole and redshirt freshman libero Taylor Unroe all finish with double-digit digs, including 20 and 23 for Pole and Unroe, respectively.
“Missouri is used to playing in a league with some really good liberos,” UF coach Mary Wise said. “So they’re used to keeping the ball in play. The ball doesn’t land easily.”
But Saturday night against Nothern Iowa, another 3-1 victory, it was all about what has been Florida’s strong point all year. After committing five attack errors and getting out-hit .295 to .100 in a first set dominated by UNI, unseeded UF fought back with a precise performance.
The Gators out-hit the Panthers .358 to .142 in the final three sets of the match and committed 19 fewer attack errors during that same span.
The effort was spearheaded by the usual cast of Jaeckel and Murphy, who combined for 28 kills, just one attack error and a .386 hitting clip. Murphy also added 20 assists, while Jaeckel posted another strong sideout mark for the Gators with four service aces.
“Credit to our low error; when we didn’t have an opportunity to score, we tried to put pressure on them instead of taking a swing that could have been high error,” Jaeckel said. “We were keeping ourselves in the rally.”
On the season, opponents averaged just a .149 attack percentage against Northern Iowa, which finished its regular season 32-1 and easily handled Niagara in the opening round.
“The theme of [Saturday’s] match was: ‘Get UNI uncomfortable,’” Wise said.
“We didn’t do a great job of that the first set, but as the match went on, I felt that we were able to put some pressure on them and get them uncomfortable.”
Florida setter/right-side hitter Kelly Murphy had 25 kills and hit .367 in UF’s first- and second-round wins.
