As Florida gears up for arguably its toughest road weekend so far this season, coach Mary Wise is playing it cool and urging her players to do the same.
The question is if the No. 2 Gators can extend their nine-game sweep streak against some tough teams to face, especially at home.
Facing Arkansas on Friday night and an undefeated No. 18 Missouri on Sunday afternoon is a feat Wise is confident her team can handle.
“They are very different from each other,” Wise said of the two teams. “So one of the challenges is in the same weekend playing two very different teams. Similarities (are) they both have elite level liberos, and they’re both great blocking teams.”
Wise said even though the teams are offensively different from one another but defensively similar, the Gators are focusing solely on Arkansas in practice and then will tailor their play to Missouri during Saturday’s practice.
When the Gators faced the Razorbacks in Fayetteville last year, they only won by one set with a final score of 3-2. Friday’s match is the only time the two teams are scheduled to play each other during the regular season.
“They play very well against us,” Wise said. "The results of the last few years show that.”
In addition to the Gators football team, Wise’s squad will also travel to Columbia, Mo., this weekend as both squads face the Tigers in Southeastern Conference matchups.
“You think our numbers are good? This is a team, across the stat sheets, that is leading the SEC in every category,” Wise said of the Tigers, who are currently 21-0.
“This weekend is going to be a great challenge for us.”
Both freshman right side hitter Alex Holston and sophomore outside hitter Gabby Mallette said Wise stressed serving at team practices this week.
“[Tuesday] at practice, we didn’t really do much scouting for the teams that we’re playing this weekend,” Mallette said. “It was more of one of the day Mary said we we’re going to focus on ourselves … we did a lot of blocking footwork and yesterday was a lot of serving.”
Florida recorded 18 serving errors and only three aces against Kentucky during its last Friday night match.
Wise will likely rely on redshirt senior middle blocker Chloe Mann and Holston. Mann is leading the NCAA in hitting percentage with .540, and Holston is close behind in fifth place with .454.
“We have such great team chemistry,” Holston said. “I think as the season goes on, we’re only going to get stronger, which is great because that’s where we want to be in December.”
Follow Erica A. Hernandez on Twitter @EricaAlyssa.
Gabby Mallette reaches to hit the ball during Florida’s four-set win against Western Michigan on Sept. 14 in the O’Connell Center.
