Seniors Betsy Smith, Tangerine Wiggs and Sundai Weston stepped onto the O’Connell Center floor for possibly the last time in their careers on Sunday.
They walked off Southeastern Conference champions.
The Gators had already clinched a share of the conference title after Friday’s win against LSU, but No. 16 Florida (23-4, 17-1 SEC) sealed the deal with a three-set sweep (25-19, 25-14, 25-19) against South Carolina (17-14, 5-14 SEC) on Senior Day.
Coach Mary Wise said the defense carried the team Friday night, but the offense stole the show on Sunday with a .464 hitting percentage — just four points shy of UF’s season-high.
“The theme on Friday night was defense,” Wise said. “Today was the offense. We were just a little bit quicker to the ball, making good decisions. Now our goal is to put our best defense with our best offense.”
Although the seniors were in the spotlight before the match began, junior Chloe Mann reclaimed her offensive dominance with 12 kills and a .524 hitting clip.
The middle blocker failed to crack .200 in her previous two matches but recorded her highest percentage since losing to Tennessee 3-2 on Nov. 4. Mann has not practiced since September to prevent any prior injuries from flaring up down the stretch.
“It’s such a rhythm between a setter and a middle hitter, and when you don’t get to practice, you are kind of making it up on the fly during the match,” Wise said. “Think of a basketball player scoring at her rate without ever shooting. It makes no sense that she can do what she’s done other than how talented she is.”
Smith and Wiggs also chipped in offensively, registering 11 and 10 kills, respectively, en route to their second career SEC championship and first since 2010.
Weston, who has played in every set in the Gators’ past four matches, said her team grinded it out despite being ranked behind Tennessee and Kentucky in the preseason polls.
“It’s fun to prove people wrong,” Weston said. “We came in every day and we fought for it, because we believed in ourselves and in each other. We went and took it.”
Smith said she and the rest of the senior class felt relieved after Wiggs sent the Gamecocks home with the final kill, securing the team’s 20th SEC title.
“It was just kind of a big deep breath like, ‘We did it,’” Smith said. “It wasn’t anyone individually. We all did this together and it’s just such a special moment.”
