Under coach Mary Wise, the Gators are no strangers to high-powered offenses.
Since 1991, Florida has averaged a .297 hitting percentage. The program finished among the top-10 schools in offensive efficiency 14 times since 1995.
Benavia Jenkins’ 1.000 clip on Oct. 12, 2001, and Chloe Mann’s .900 clip on Nov. 11, 2011, are among the all-time highest averages in a single game in NCAA history.
And with a .338 team average so far this season, the Gators are on pace to be one of the country’s top offenses once again.
But the offense will not mean a thing if the defense has more holes than the net on the court.
On Saturday, No. 5 Florida (8-1) allowed Western Michigan (3-1) to hit .309, which was the highest hitting percentage by a visiting opponent in a regular season match since GatorZone.com started recording box scores in 1999.
During the intermission of the Iona match Saturday afternoon, Wise said she could already see her younger outside hitters being “mono-focused” on offense while letting their defensive game fall by the wayside.
Just a few hours after addressing the problem in the first match of the day, Wise saw the Broncos exploit the Gators’ defense behind the play of middle blocker Stephenee Yancy, who recorded a .613 clip on 20 kills.
“She is a handful,” Wise said. “We knew the ball was going to her, but obviously we had no answer.”
Yancy, who hit just shy of her personal record of .625, found the gaps in Florida’s defense behind the slide play that left the Gators stumped all night.
The slide is an attack where the middle blocker usually takes off on one foot rather than two while moving alongside the net to catch the defense off guard. Coming from behind the setter, the attacker can pinpoint a hole in the defense and exploit it with a quick running hit.
Wise said her team will see more of the same from Florida State, which runs a double slide, on Tuesday.
“As good an offense (as) Western Michigan is, Florida State is one of the best in the country,” she said.
“You just look at the scores from a year ago, and we had no answer for them. So we’ll need our young players to think a lot about defense between now and then.”
However, even when the Gators had a week to prepare for the three schools visiting to compete in the Active Ankle Challenge, they still struggled defensively.
In a radio interview after defeating Western Michigan, Wise said she felt bad for UF associate head coach Dave Boos.
Boos drilled the squad on defending the slide the week before the tournament.
While Wise continues to work with players like Gabby Mallette and Alex Holston, whom Wise said drove her crazy by being so “mono-focused” on offense, she said she will continue to lean on Ziva Recek to get the squad through these tough matches.
The sophomore outside hitter led all Gators with 21 kills while adding 10 digs for her 12th career double-double.
“We rely so heavily on her,” Wise said.
“She grounds our team and we rely her IQ, her experience (and) her confidence. So she’s (a) pretty important player for us.”
A radio broadcast contributed to this report.
Follow Jonathan Czupryn on Twitter @jczupryn.
Chloe Mann jumps to spike the ball during Florida’s four-set victory against Western Michigan in the O’Connell Center on Sept. 14
