Middle blockers Betsy Smith and Chloe Mann have always anchored the front-line defense for No. 11 Florida, which faces No. 12 Florida State today at 6 p.m. in Tallahassee.
But after Smith recorded a career-high 15 kills on Sunday and Mann won the Southeastern Conference Offensive Player of the Week award, Wise said the duo is a force to be reckoned with offensively as well.
Mann leads the team with 3.87 kills per set, while Smith ranks fourth with 1.98 per set. Mann’s .439 hitting percentage is the best on the Gators, while Smith’s .363 ranks third.
At first, Wise struggled to recall a time when Florida had a pair of high-scoring middles as strong as Smith and Mann.
“You’d have to go back some,” Wise said.
“Before Benavia Jenkins got hurt, she and Sherri Williams were pretty efficient in the middle as well.”
Jenkins and Williams last played together in 2003, which was the first and last time the Gators appeared in a national championship game.
Wise said this year’s team has leaned on the middles in the same way Florida did nearly 10 years ago.
Smith and Mann have responded by leading the Gators to a 14-game winning streak, which has included eight sweeps and two 2-0 comebacks against SEC opponents.
“They are the X-factor for our team right now,” Wise said. “Chloe Mann is having an amazing season and just seems to get better and better — Betsy as well. I think the team feeds off of her leadership and emotional energy.”
The SEC named Mann, a junior, the Offensive Player of the Week after she led the Gators with 32 kills last weekend against Alabama and Texas A&M.
She committed only two attacking errors, giving her a .566 hitting clip.
Smith, a redshirt senior, not only accumulated a career-high in kills during the comeback victory against the Aggies, but she was also the spark the Gators needed in the locker room following the second set.
“When I went into the locker room, I waited until [Smith] was finished addressing the team before I talked to them,” Wise said. “It’s not surprising that would be her career high.”
When asked where the two middles stack up against the nation’s top duos, Wise said she wouldn’t know. But she did know one thing.
“Those two have been stellar,” she said.
Redshirt senior middle blocker Betsy Smith attempts an attack in Florida’s 3-0 win against Ole Miss on Oct. 12 in the O’Connell Center. Smith is fourth on the team with 1.98 kills per set this season.
