Florida freshman Alex Holston has already earned her spot in the Gators’ starting lineup.
But after Wednesday night’s three-set victory against Tennessee, Holston proved she is ready to assume Chloe Mann’s role when Mann graduates after the season.
Florida swept Tennessee (25-18, 25-21, 25-17) in Knoxville, Tenn. on Wednesday night.
“We would call that a great bounce-back match,” coach Mary Wise said in a postgame radio interview.
Holston had 13 of Florida’s 47 kills, which led the team.
She was also efficient, recording no attack or service errors and notching a hitting percentage of .684.
“Alex showed terrific patience,” Wise said.
“Recently she’s been a little early. Today she showed more patience and great range.”
But Mann is not gone yet. She made 10 kills with an uncharacteristically high number of errors, lowering her hitting percentage to .300.
“They have her down for four errors … I think all four of those were missed timing,” Wise said. “I think for Chloe, she was very intentional.”
Sophomore outside hitter Gabby Mallette was the only player to record a block in the first set. Her solo block was one of Florida’s (25-3, 14-2 Southeastern Conference) two individual blocks — the other coming from sophomore outside hitter Ziva Recek.
The Gators recorded four team blocks, while the Volunteers (9-20, 1-14 SEC) made no individual blocks and only one team block.
“There’s definitely some blocks we missed,” Wise said.
“It’s a place where we’ve showed signs of being solid. We understand that’s not the make of this team. We’re not going to lead the country in blocking, but we do think there are more blocks to be had.”
The Gators trailed during the second set until tying the score at 20. From there, Florida took the lead and held onto it until the end.
“Tennessee was playing well, and I think we got into that, ‘This should be a little bit easier,’ as opposed to embracing it, ‘OK, they’re playing better. Let’s go,’” Wise said.
“We just needed to get into another gear.”
Wednesday’s win marks Florida’s 25th of the season and the 23rd consecutive season in which the Gators have won 25 or more matches — the longest streak in the NCAA.
The Gators return to the O’Connell Center for their final home match of the regular season.
Florida hosts LSU on Friday at 7 p.m.
Follow Erica A. Hernandez on Twitter @EricaAlyssa.
Alex Holston blocks the ball during Florida’s three-set win against Texas A&M on Oct. 4 in the O’Connell Center.
