3 stars from the weekend
By Mari Faiello | Sep. 22, 2019Florida’s weekend went as expected, coming out of the Gators Invitational with three wins.
Florida’s weekend went as expected, coming out of the Gators Invitational with three wins.
You don’t have to go far to see the last time Florida nailed back-to-back-to-back sweeps over its opponents.
Sophomore Thayer Hall jumped up for the ball and fired a kill past Northern Arizona’s Abby Akin, Hall’s 13th kill of the evening.
The No. 11 Gators volleyball team is fresh off a dominating sweep of in-state rival No. 23 Florida State. Florida hosts this weekend’s Gator Invitational, where it will play Liberty, Northern Arizona and Louisiana-Lafayette. Here are some things to know about UF’s competition this weekend:
Holly Carlton must have felt like she had the weight of the O’Dome on her shoulders after helping her team fight point after point in the second set, a frame the Gators trailed more than they led.
The Gators volleyball team (5-2) wrapped up a perfect 3-0 weekend on Saturday following a wild 3-2 win against Long Beach State. Here are two takeaways:
Heads were hung and breaths were heavy as the Gators trailed Long Beach State 11-7 late in a pivotal fifth set.
The Gators approached the Honda of Gainesville Gators Invitational hoping to right the ship after getting swept in their two previous. They did so convincingly in Friday’s doubleheader, where they only dropped one set of seven against USF and James Madison. UF (4-2) will finish the invitational on Saturday with a match against Long Beach State (3-5) at 5 p.m.
Matches against No. 1 Stanford and No. 8 Minnesota were supposed to be good tests for a Florida team trying to prove that it belonged in the national-title conversation.
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.
Florida volleyball walked into its match as the seventh-ranked team in the country, but the game itself told a different story: No. 8 Minnesota swept the Gators in the Golden Gophers’ home-opener Saturday night.
The No. 7 Gators won’t have much time to recover from their home-opener loss against No. 1 Stanford. Florida volleyball is back in action on the road against No. 8 Minnesota Saturday evening at 8.
It wasn’t disastrous, per se, but it certainly wasn’t pretty either.
It took two sets and a must-win situation, but Florida’s volleyball team found its way to a five-set win over the Dayton Flyers Saturday night in Louisville, Kentucky, in nailbiter fashion.
It was a game that Florida had been anticipating for eight months. The experienced, freshmen-less team could finally get its season underway.
Florida’s 10th-ranked volleyball team will start its 2019 season with a pair of games against No. 25 Louisville on Friday night and Dayton on Saturday at the Cardinal Classic in Louisville, Kentucky. Here’s what to watch for:
Saturday afternoon may have just been an exhibition match, but it gave Gator Nation a real glimpse at what could be in store for its volleyball team this year.
Darrielle King stood at the net with her knees bent and arms down by her sides. The middle blocker stared fiercely through the net toward her opponents as the ball crossed the net’s plane from her own baseline.
Florida fans won’t have to wait long for the competition to heat up when it comes to Gators volleyball.
The offseason finish line is finally in sight for Gators volleyball fans with just two days remaining until the team hits the court against UCF. It’s the first time Florida will compete since an early NCAA Tournament exit at BYU last season.