The Gators wrapped up their regular season with a three-set sweep (25-21, 25-22, 25-19) on the road against Georgia (14-16, 8-12 Southeastern Conference).
No. 15 Florida (25-4, 19-1) flexed its defensive muscles by holding the Bulldogs to a .028 hitting percentage for the lowest clip by an opponent since LSU hit .081 on Nov. 16.
But like the Gators matchup against the Tigers, they did not perform well offensively.
Coach Mary Wise’s squad could only scrape up a .190 hitting performance as only two Gators hit above .200.
“The offense didn’t come easy,” Wise said. “But it came well enough.”
Rather than relying on Ziva Recek, who has led Florida in kills and swings in nearly every match, the Gators leaned on junior Chloe Mann to generate points.
The Gainesville middle blocker finished tied for second in kills behind Recek, but she took nearly 30 less swings and had five less errors than the freshman out of Slovenia.
Mann’s .471 average led all Gators in the match, but Wise said it was Taylor Unroe’s back-row defensive performance that helped Florida finish its regular season on a high note.
Unroe had 19 digs in just three sets against Georgia, which was the most amount of digs in a three-set match since Elyse Cusack in 2009.
“That’s back-to-back matches where she has taken over in the back row,” Wise said. “She’s just positioning herself to make plays. What a great performance both Wednesday and Friday.”
Since the Gators have closed out the regular season, they must await their fate from the NCAA to see which seed they will be given Sunday during the selection show.
“The NCAA Tournament is a fun time,” Wise said. “That’s really when it gets fun.”
