With a match looming Sunday against undefeated Missouri, Florida almost got caught flat-footed in Fayetteville, Ark., on Friday.
No. 2 UF lost the first set to Arkansas – its first dropped set since Sept. 14 against Western Michigan – before rallying to defeat the Razorbacks in four sets 22-25, 25-18, 25-20, 25-16.
“It wasn’t pretty,” coach Mary Wise said.
“This is what being on the road is like and you have to work through it. It was a match where our stable players were not very stable.”
Florida’s strength this year has been preventing the opposition from going on long runs, but that strength was missing Friday.
With the score tied at 2 in the first set, the Gators proceeded to lose the next seven points en route to losing the first set for only the second time this season.
After committing 18 service errors against Kentucky last weekend, Florida committed another 13 against Arkansas.
“Still gotta get Taylor Unroe back in,” Wise said. “We’re going to have to make a change. It’s unacceptable. Five service errors on the night. I’ll live with five, but at least give us a few aces along the way.”
Middle blocker Chloe Mann refused to let the team drop any more sets, though. The senior tied for the team lead with 13 kills to go along with a hitting percentage of.409.
Florida once again had four players in double digit kills – sophomore outside hitter Ziva Recek, sophomore middle blocker Simone Antwi and sophomore outside hitter Gabby Mallette the others – to go along with Mann.
The Gators will have the day off to prepare for No. 18 Missouri on Sunday.
It will be only the second time Florida will play at Missouri since it became a member of the Southeastern Conference before last year.
Follow RJ Schaffer on Twitter @rjschaffer.
Junior libero Taylor Unroe reacts to a play during Florida’s three-set victory against FSU on Sept. 17 in the O’Connell Center.
