Although the Gators came into the third set ahead by two, the Gamecocks weren’t going to let them run away with the win.
Despite senior Tangerine Wiggs having three straight kills and a block to put Florida back within two points in the middle of the set, South Carolina grabbed its first set against Florida since Oct. 7, 2009.
However, the No. 12 Gators (10-2, 4-0 Southeastern Conference) came back in the fourth set put away their 12th-straight victory over the Gamecocks (13-3, 2-3 SEC).
“Now they’re down 0-2, they have nothing to lose and they’re just playing lights out,” Gators coach Mary Wise said. “Balls that went for kills in the first two sets didn’t land in the third set because of the quality defense on South Carolina’s part.”
Florida got off to a solid start in its 3-1 (25-14, 25-23, 21-25, 25-17) win, but they struggled to build momentum in the second set. The Gators would win several long rallies, just to have their streak derailed by a service error.
UF racked up 11 service errors on Friday night.
Although the Gators had trouble getting serves over, their front line had no trouble finding the floor. Florida’s hitting, led by Wiggs and Chloe Mann, dominated throughout the first two sets with 30 kills against two errors.
Mann matched up a career-high 20 kills with a season-high .621 hitting clip.
“(That) doesn’t surprise me about Chloe because she was so good in practice on Wednesday,” Wise said.
Like Mann, Wiggs was also able to finish the night on a high note by hitting .500 with 10 kills. As Florida get ready to take on Mississippi State on Sunday, Wise feels her young team has learned a lot against South Carolina to help prepare them for their fifth SEC matchup of the season.
“I’m going to give South Carolina a whole lot of credit for the way they responded without their best player,” Wise said. “You can see they’re going to be a tough out, especially at home, and I think this was one of those great growing experiences for this young Gator team.”
Contact Katie Agostin at kagostin@alligator.org.
Chloe Mann help the No. 12 Florida Gators defeat the South Carolina Gamecocks on Friday night in Columbia, S.C. She set career highs with 20 kills and 22 points.
