Alex Holston’s career at Florida is off to an impressive start.
Holston, a freshman right-side hitter for the Gators, is taking opponents’ attention away from seniors Chloe Mann and Taylor Brauneis with her play so far this season.
“It was really nice to see the emergence of Alex Holston continue [in Milwaukee],” assistant coach Dave Boos said. “She’s really getting more and more opportunities now.
“Our team is starting to use her in situations where we hadn’t earlier in the year, and she came out there with [eight] kills and two blocks and had a great match.”
Holston wasted no time getting acclimated to college volleyball.
She had the best opening-weekend hitting percentage by a starting freshman in school history with a clip of .436 while playing against New Orleans, LIU-Brooklyn and Duke.
Since then, she has done nothing but improve.
Despite not being Florida’s top offensive threat — the freshman is behind Mann, outside hitter Ziva Recek and middle blocker Simone Antwi — Holston ranks third on the team with 94 kills.
“She sees the game really, really well and has a lot of confidence right now in that,” Boos said.
“So, what you’ll see a lot of, especially in the tougher situations off a dug ball, is throwing the ball to her and letting her bail us out a little bit.”
Among UF players with a minimum of 175 attacks on the season, Holston currently ranks No. 2 on the team with a hitting percentage of .410, trailing only Mann.
That clip is fourth best in the Southeastern Conference and 31st in the nation.
Only five players in the top 50 in hitting percentage are freshmen.
Two of those players — Alabama’s Krystal Rivers and Tulane’s Sarah Strasner — rank ahead of Holston.
With the Maryland native continuing to adapt to the college game, her role could increase.
“What we’re doing is giving her more balls in bad situations,” Boos said.
“Early on it’s like, ‘Okay, come on give Alex the good situations and let her get used to the college volleyball.’
“Now, it’s, ‘Give Alex any ball you want’ because she’s putting it away.”
Follow RJ Schaffer on Twitter @rjschaffer.
Alex Holston hits the ball during Florida’s four-set win against Western Michigan on Sept. 14 in the O’Connell Center.
