Last season, Florida dropped the first two sets to Florida State and lost any chance at a comeback by digging itself a 4-0 hole to begin the third set.
The Gators ended up losing their first match to the Seminoles in 18 years.
On Tuesday, No. 4 Florida picked up where it left off, letting No. 17 FSU jump out to a 4-0 start at the O’Connell Center.
“It’s definitely scary when you play a team like Florida State and you get down 0-4 and you’re like, ‘Oh crap,’” Taylor Unroe said.
But behind timely service runs by the junior libero and a tightened front-line defense, the Gators (9-1) came back to win not only the first set, but the next two as well to sweep the Seminoles (6-4) in three sets (25-20, 26-24, 25-23).
Coach Mary Wise said the match proved to be a much tougher challenge than what the box score will show.
“I think people across the country may see 3-0, but that’s not a reflection on just what a hard fought match it was,” she said.
“It was interesting. It was kind of a reverse of a year ago.”
In the 2012 matchup between the in-state rivals, Wise said her squad did not put any pressure on the Seminoles from behind the service line or with front-line blocking.
But after seeing UF’s service runs force FSU out of its system for much of the match, and an improved defensive effort by Alex Holston and Gabby Mallette, Wise said it was those weaknesses from a year ago that transformed into strengths for the Gators.
“The serve and the blocking was the big difference maker,” she said.
Just three days after what Wise called a “mono-focused” offensive performance by Mallette, the 6-foot-2 sophomore outside hitter contributed 1.5 blocks, including the final stuff in the third set to close out the match.
Holston added another two blocks, while middle blocker Simone Antwi led all players on the court with 3.5 of her own.
In total, the Gators recorded nine stuffs to the Seminoles’ seven.
“They have a lot of combo plays that they run, so for us just to talk about it at the net ... we got more used to it and just started working more on blocking,” Holston said. “(We were) focusing on jumping in and taking risks with our hitters in blocking the ball.”
Wise said the Gators’ aggressive serves took the Seminoles out of their element, preventing them from getting the ball to their offensive weapons as much as Florida State would have liked.
“It’s great for our team to play a team like this,” Wise said. “... When we came out of the locker room, we had the mindset of no messing around, foot on the gas pedal, bring you’re ‘A’ game. ... That’s what we did.”
Follow Jonathan Czupryn on Twitter @jczupryn.
Junior libero Taylor Unroe reacts to a play during Florida’s three-set victory against FSU on Sept. 17 in the O’Connell Center.
