The Owls were up 20-10 in set one, and the set seemed over for the Gators before Rice’s middle blocker Arissa Smith went down with an injury. After scoring the following point, Florida went on a 17-5 run to close out the set victorious.
The Gators (16-11) swept No. 7 seeded Rice (21-10) on Friday in the first round of the NCAA Volleyball Tournament in Dallas, Texas.
Although Smith ranks fifth on Rice’s squad in kills, it was the timing of the injury that had the biggest impact for Rice in set one. It stopped the match and gave Florida a chance to regroup.
Aside from the injury, Florida’s set one rebound was sparked by outside hitter Jordyn Byrd. With the Gators trailing by 10, the redshirt sophomore came alive with her opponent in the red zone and finished the match with 18 kills and hit .310. She was the driving force the Gators needed, and willed them to a 27-25 win in the set.
The rest of the match was not seamless for Florida despite the huge momentum swing. It blew a 16-10 lead in set two to scrape by with a 25-23 win and trailed for most of set three and late in the game, 18-15.
However, Florida came through when it mattered. To come back in set three, defensive specialist Ella Vogel served Florida back in it. She subbed in to serve with her team down 18-17 and served eight straight adding two aces before she errored with her team up 24-19. She added eight digs to her stellar serving performance as well.
With the exception of committing three more service errors, Florida led the Owls across the board despite some hiccups throughout the match. The Gators committed fewer attacking errors, a significant step forward after struggling with that for much of the season, and UF was more efficient on a very similar number of swings from each team.
Florida’s ability to block and hold Rice’s premier outside hitter Taylor Preston to 12 kills at .163 efficiency was a crucial piece of its win. Setter Alexis Stucky added a team-leading five blocks to go along with her double-double of 41 assists and 11 digs. Her 11 digs ranked second on Florida’s squad behind freshman libero Lily Hayes, who added 12.
Sophomore middle blockers Jalea Auguste and Alec Rothe each had four blocks to add to their combined 15 kills. As a team, the Gators out-blocked Rice with nine blocks to its seven.
Redshirt sophomore outside hitter Aniya Madkin added 13 kills to round out Florida’s offensive efforts.
Florida will play the winner of No. 2 seeded SMU and Central Arkansas at 8 p.m. Saturday in Dallas.
Contact Ava DiCecca at adicecca@alligator.org. Follow her on X @avadicecca24.
Ava is a sophomore sports journalism student and the volleyball beat reporter for fall 2025. She enjoys playing basketball and volleyball in her free time and going on beach trips with friends. She has been a Boston sports fan all her life (Brad Marchand we miss you).
