Florida coach Mary Wise called it a fog. Spectators will call it one of the sloppiest sets either Florida or Ole Miss has played all season.
In the first set of Sunday’s Southeastern Conference matchup, the two teams combined for 15 attack errors -- the same number of combined kills they registered. At .103, the Gators hit their lowest clip since the first set of an Oct. 28 loss to Tennessee, while the Rebels managed to hit -.120, their lowest total since a Sept. 23 loss to Georgia.
“The first set was just truly not very clean volleyball,” Wise said. “We said there was a fog in the gym in that first set that finally lifted partially in the second set and then lifted fully in the third.”
No. 17 Florida (19-5, 12-13 SEC) overcame the miscues en route to a straight-set victory (25-13, 25-22, 25-10). Ole Miss (9-15, 5-11 SEC), however, wasn't so lucky.
The Rebels rode a four-game winning streak into Gainesville after returning some missing parts from injury. But that skid was stopped at the hands of solid transition defense and dominant serving by Florida.
“We served aggressive and kept them out of system because they have great hitters when they’re in system,” senior Kelly Murphy said. “That was part of our goal.”
UF totaled seven service aces split among Murphy (2), Kristy Jaeckel (3), Betsy Smith (1) and Chanel Brown (1).
After stumbling onto the court offensively in the first set, the Gators hit .397 with 26 kills and just five attack errors in the final two sets.
Ole Miss came in averaging a .195 team hitting percentage, but it was held to a 0.57 mark for the game.
For the second time in as many matches, the Gators saw noticeable changes in their lineup. Freshman defensive specialist Holly Pole got her first career start, and sophomore middle blocker Chloe Mann got another start in place of senior Cassandra Anderson, leading the team in points alongside Jaeckel.
“It was definitely exciting,” said Pole, who had seven digs. “I’m just fortunate for the opportunity.”
Neither Anderson nor defensive specialist Madison Monserez saw playing time during the weekend, although Florida used 11 players Sunday.
“There’s nothing that you can do in practice to simulate a game situation,” Wise said. “I felt like in both matches, if things were going well, we would really love to play [Mann and Pole] the entire time.”
Redshirt freshman libero Taylor Unroe capped off a strong defensive effort by the Gators with 12 digs.
