The Gators may have won their two most recent games in the O’Connell Center, but a road trip with back-to-back losses two weekends ago is still seared into the team’s memory.
In fact, UF’s season-altering losses at Kentucky and Tennessee have become this weekend’s source of motivation, as the No. 19 Gators (19-5, 12-3 Southeastern Conference) hit the road to face LSU on Friday and Arkansas on Sunday.
“We definitely took those losses into inspiration for our team,” sophomore setter Chanel Brown said. “It just made us want to compete even harder and want to have so much more expectations for ourselves and really just strive to get out of that slump that we had.”
Although the Gators defeated both the Tigers and the Razorbacks 3-0 at home in early October, coach Mary Wise knows that playing on the road can often lead to completely different situations.
“In terms of LSU, they are a way-quick offense,” Wise said. “We played very well the first time we played them. We really were able to control their tempo with our serving. That’s much harder to do on the road.”
Wise also mentioned the difficulty of facing two completely different offenses just a few days apart. While LSU will pressure Florida with speed, Arkansas has lately recharged its attack and found success from the outside.
“Against Arkansas, a physical team, they did some changes in their lineups, and now their two outside hitters are just lighting it up on the outside,” Wise said, “so I think from a defensive standpoint, we’ll have two different types of challenges but big challenges.”
Although the Gators have made serving and establishing runs from the back line a major focus of recent practices, Florida’s continued push to improve its defense will be key this weekend.
With dig numbers still on the rise compared to the beginning of the season, the Gators are now working on improving the quality of their defense.
“The theme continues to be bettering the ball,” Wise said, “and we’re trying to turn one-option digs into two-option digs, meaning we may be getting touches on the ball but they’re not necessarily balls that we can transition.”
By scrimmaging and playing more six-on-six drills in practice, Florida is pushing for a greater connection in that transition play, which they’re hoping will carry into matches.
“We’re keeping stats on different things so we can see what we need to work on, and that’s helped us improve,” defensive specialist Taylor Unroe said. “Our defensive effort in the backcourt has been at a lot higher level the past couple days of practice, so that’s really good for us.”
