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Thursday, March 28, 2024
<p dir="ltr"><span>Senior middle blocker Rachael Kramer said she'd like to stay another year if it meant she could play softball for coach Tim Walton. </span></p>

Senior middle blocker Rachael Kramer said she'd like to stay another year if it meant she could play softball for coach Tim Walton. 

No. 7 Florida is only four games into the 2019 season, and there is still plenty to learn about the veteran-heavy group chasing the program’s first national title. 

Taking things outside of the gym, let’s learn about some personalities off the court and how these players live out their daily lives like typical students. 

We asked five of Florida’s starters the same basic questions and here’s what they said: 

Senior middle blocker Rachael Kramer is most excited about traveling with the team again. 

“We have an entertainment pod and Marlie (Monserez) is usually in charge of movies,” Kramer said. “She was great last year with a lot of Disney classics.”

Kramer normally listens to some of the top pop hits while warming-up for practice and games, but it changes throughout the season. 

And if she didn’t play volleyball, she said she’d love to play softball.

“I love Tim Walton,” Kramer said with a chuckle. “I told him I would gladly take a fifth year on the softball team and he told me, ‘I’ll have you.’ So if you see me on the softball team in the spring, you heard it here first. I’ll have Kelly Barnhill coach me as a pitcher.”

Outside of the sport, Kramer enjoys binge-watching “The Office” and putting her crocheting skills (which she learned from former Florida middle blocker Rhamat Alhassan) to use. 

“I’ve watched it three or four times,” she said. “If I’m having a bad day, that’s my go-to and I’ll watch three or four episodes.” 

Redshirt junior right-side hitter Holly Carlton said her favorite warm-up music is listening to Christian worship music, particularly Elevation Worship.

“Jesus is my dude,” she said with a chuckle. “I like to just set my mind right and stay even.”  

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Carlton also said she is looking forward to seeing the identity of her team shape out against the competition.

“I feel like we’ve come into a new definition of who our team is this year,” she said.

Carlton also mentioned that if she were shorter she’d take up gymnastics, and her favorite show to binge-watch was “Friends” because she doesn’t like to think too much when she’s watching TV.

Outside of volleyball she likes to play the guitar. She bought one two years ago and has been learning how to play songs on YouTube.

Sophomore outside attacker Thayer Hall said she enjoys listening to anything, but particularly likes the “Body” song by Loud Luxury that was on the team’s warm-up playlist last season. 

Hall said if she wasn’t a volleyball player, she’d like to take up basketball. Outside of sports, she enjoys cooking and baking depending on her mood.

“I do share,” she said. “This year we had a little fresh-year meal and I made this really good baked ziti, and it was so good.” 

Just like Kramer, when Hall isn’t in the gym she likes to binge-watch “The Office.”

“I’ve seen it like 12 times through,” she said. “I just started it again and it’s off Netflix in a year, and I’ve cried more than once about it.”

Sophomore setter Marlie Monserez said her favorite songs are “Truth Hurts” by Lizzo and “Lucy” by Skillet. 

Outside of the gym, she watches more sci-fi based shows like “Supergirl,” “The Vampire Diaries” and “Supernatural” but occasionally slips back to “Gossip Girls” and “One Tree Hill.”

If she weren't a volleyball player and smaller, she’d love to be a gymnast.

“I think it’s the coolest sport ever,” she said. 

Monserez also likes to sculpt pottery. She hasn’t worked on any projects recently, but there are a couple of places and organizations on campus she can use to work on her pieces. 

Junior outside hitter Paige Hammons said her favorite hobby outside of volleyball is playing tennis, but if she wasn’t a volleyball player she would also enjoy being a gymnast.

Like Carlton, her favorite show to binge is “Friends,” and she has enjoyed all of the perks that have come up with its 25th anniversary. 

Hammons loves listening to country music but admitted it’s hard to put that on a warm-up playlist. But like Monserez, she loves “Truth Hurts.”

Follow Mari Faiello @faiello_mari. Contact her at mfaiello@alligator.org. 

Senior middle blocker Rachael Kramer said she'd like to stay another year if it meant she could play softball for coach Tim Walton. 

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