Kelly Murphy’s kill attempt ricocheted off the net and back to her. Instead of a pleasant sendoff after a lengthy homestand, Monday’s match ended in the first loss of the season.
In a wild meeting that saw the No. 9 Gators (6-1) come back from a 2-0 deficit only to ultimately fall 3-2 (19-25, 27-29, 25-17, 25-18, 14-16) to No. 19 Iowa State (7-0), Florida was hampered by a slow start and late errors.
“It’s really disappointing because we worked so hard to get to that point,” junior Tangerine Wiggs said. “When we get there, we need to make sure we stay disciplined.”
Although the Gators had two less attack errors than the Cyclones and out-hit their opposition .251 to .208, UF recorded a season-high 17 service errors. Florida averaged 9.5 service errors per game in the first six matches of the year. Five of those misfires came in the deciding fifth set, a frame Florida would like to forget.
“It was just the execution in the end,” junior Betsy Smith said.
Iowa State opened the contest in dominating fashion. Before the match’s 10-minute break, the Cyclones out-hit the Gators .331 to .177 and out-blocked them six to four.
Behind 12 kills and eight UF attack errors, ISU cruised to an easy first-set victory. Florida then blew a 24-21 lead to lose set two 29-27.
“We showed them some numbers where Iowa State was so significantly better in making defensive plays,” UF coach Mary Wise said. “You just can’t win matches without the defense.”
With a pep talk in their arsenal, the Gators charged out of the locker room for easy wins in the third and fourth sets. Florida out-hit the Cyclones .469 to .229 in set three and out-blocked ISU in the two sets by a total of nine to one.
“At that point, we just got to where we had nothing to lose,” said Wiggs, who combined with middle blocker Smith for a .587 hitting percentage and 12 kills in the third and fourth frames.
With an early-season game on the line, freshmen Madison Monserez and Holly Pole were consistently tossed into the most intense situations of their young careers.
“Madi and Holly did great,” Wiggs said. “It’s really hard to go into a situation like that. They did a great job of staying composed.”
But the Gators could not close out the drama in the fifth. Leading 13-12 coming out of an Iowa State timeout, Florida allowed a 14-14 tie before an attack error by Kristy Jaeckel, and what was eventually ruled an attack error by Murphy crashed Florida’s comeback dreams.
“Right now, we could be undefeated without playing them,” Wise said. “But we wouldn’t know as much about ourselves.”
Gators right-side hitter Tangerine Wiggs had a career day on Monday against Iowa State, but the junior took Florida’s first loss of the season especially hard and was seen crying on the court after the match.
