The Gators enter Southeastern Conference play having already defeated four top-15 teams.
With their highest ranking since the 2005 season, will the Gators easily continue winning through the SEC?
Not necessarily.
As if a grueling nonconference schedule wasn’t enough, No. 3 Florida (6-1) will begin SEC matches this weekend when it takes on No. 22 Kentucky (6-4) in Lexington, Ky., at 7 p.m. tonight. Florida will then face No. 18 Tennessee (8-1) in Knoxville, Tenn., at 2 p.m. on Sunday.
“Everything that we’ve done so far has been great for learning and for experience, but we realize it starts Friday night in Lexington,” coach Mary Wise said. “We have to rely on the things that we’ve learned over the past three weeks to help us as we head into SEC play.”
Friday night will mark the first time since 1991 — Wise’s first year at Florida — that the Gators will not start SEC competition as the defending champion.
“This is arguably the toughest road trip in the league,” Wise said. “To do that this early in the season after [we] have had to play so hard over the first three [weeks] I think it is as big a challenge as we have ever faced in Florida volleyball during the SEC.”
The Gators were the lone conference team to finish in the final rankings in 2000. Ten years later, there are four teams in the top 25 — a testament to the growing improvement of the volleyball teams in the conference.
After the Gators finished third in the SEC last year, coaches picked them to finish second this year behind Tennessee.
“I think it kind of lights a fire under us,” senior Callie Rivers said. “Everyone has their own opinion so hopefully we can prove people wrong and win the SEC this year.”
However, Wise says the team is spending more time focusing on its play rather than where coaches picked them to finish.
“We never put a whole lot of attention into the preseason poll,” Wise said.
“When we were picked, there were some years I was surprised. I said, ‘Did you not see our graduation?’ I voted for Tennessee. They have Nikki Fowler, one of the best players in the country.”
The Gators will have quite a task containing Fowler, a member of the 2009 All-SEC First Team. She comes into the weekend with 112 kills, 36 more than Gators’ leader Kelly Murphy.
Florida is 22-4 in conference openers and is a perfect 19-0 under Wise. But after failing to win the SEC for the first time in her tenure as coach, the Gators know there is a first time for everything.
