Although Friday night might have started off with a kill for redshirt senior Betsy Smith, but it was her blocking that dominated the match.
Smith used a season-high of seven blocks to help No. 11 Florida (12-2, 6-0 Southeastern Conference) defeat Arkansas (13-4, 4-2 SEC) in a 3-0 (25-23, 25-18, 25-15) win.
“Betsy Smith was so good, especially early,” coach Mary Wise said. “Arkansas is such a good offensive team; they’ve been lighting it up as of late, so there’s an advantage of playing a team a second time.”
The middle blocker started off the first set by accounting for more than half of the Gators’ 5.5 blocks. The second set wasn’t much different as Smith added another two blocks to her tally. In total, Florida had 16.5 blocks Friday night.
“We were having a rough night offensively, so blocking wise we took it upon ourselves and said, ‘Alright, how can we score points for the team’ because we were struggling to do it on offense,” Smith said. “Our defensive kind of recharged us; our back row defense because they kept giving us more opportunities to get swings and put balls in play and therefore we could have more chances to block.”
In addition to stopping Arkansas’ attacks, Smith helped contribute offensively with six kills.
Although the Gators struggled to get kills against the Razorbacks top defense, who have kept their opponents to the second lowest hitting percentage in the SEC, junior Chloe Mann was still able to find the floor 11 times.
Like Smith, Mann also shined defensively with 6 blocks.
“Arkansas is a good team, and they never backed down,” Mann said. “I thought they played really well tonight. They definitely laid it on the court.”
Wise will need her players to continue to maintain its high level of performance as they get ready to take on Kentucky for the second time this season Sunday afternoon.
“I thought we just stayed patient and when you do that, good things will come,” Wise said. “We need good things to come on Sunday in a big way, because I think Kentucky is the hottest team in the league right now.”
Contact Katie Agostin at kagostin.alligator.org.
Middle blocker Betsy Smith (14) spikes the ball against Georgia Tech in a 3-1 victory on Sept. 8. The senior led the Gators with a season-high 11 blocks in Florida's sweep of Arkansas on Friday night.
