When Florida traveled to Missouri on Oct. 20, it was in the midst of one of the best stretches of volleyball in the program’s history.
UF swept nine straight matches from Sept. 17 to Oct. 13, which included No. 17 Kentucky and No. 22 Florida State.
But that dominance has leveled off since the No. 5 Gators lost to the No. 7 Tigers in four sets in Columbia, Mo. Since the two teams’ first matchup, Florida dropped a set against LSU, needed five sets to beat Texas A&M and were most recently swept by the Tigers on Friday night.
“Anytime when you lose, you step back,” coach Mary Wise said. “I think in some areas we’ve proved from [the first loss to Mizzou] that Missouri was able to exploit some things that we can direct our attention on and we’ve gotten better from it.
“When you play a team as talented as Missouri and well-coached as Missouri, there are plenty of teachable moments.”
Barring a collapse by Missouri, which is one of only two undefeated teams remaining in the nation, the Tigers will secure a Southeastern Conference title with a win against Mississippi State on Friday.
Although it may seem as though the Tigers dominated the Gators in their sweep, each set came down to the final few points. Florida scored at least 22 points in each set.
The focus for the Gators now turns from winning an SEC title to trying to capture the program’s first national title. While a regular season title is out of the question, the possibility of getting a top seed in the NCAA Tournament is still possible.
Wise’s squad is currently sixth in match win-loss percentage in the nation at .889. Securing a top seed would assure that Gainesville would be one of the host cities for the first and second rounds of the tournament.
There are three games remaining on Florida’s schedule — an away match against Tennessee on Wednesday, UF’s final home match on Friday against LSU and the regular season finale against Kentucky on Nov. 27.
“We now look at it that with the SEC championship no longer a possibility, it’s now about the big prize,” Wise said.
“We know this: The way it is in college athletics, you are not judged on your body of work for three months. In the end, you’re judged on your work over a three-weekend tournament.”
Follow RJ Schaffer on Twitter @rjschaffer.
