The end of the road is nearing for middle blocker Chloe Mann and setter Taylor Brauneis.
The two will hit the court with their team in a regular-season match for the last time on Wednesday. What comes after that is still unknown for both the seniors and the team as a whole.
After a two-sweep week, Florida (25-3, 14-2 Southeastern Conference) travels next to Lexington, Ky., to face Kentucky (21-7, 13-4 SEC) for its last match of the regular season.
With two powerful seniors on their way out after the postseason, Wise said she was happy to see underclassmen stepping up during Friday night’s senior night.
“Alex Holston had a great match on Wednesday night and then came home Friday night to play against LSU and in that one we hit just under .400,” Wise said. “And with Chloe being Chloe, the 10 kills in 14 attempts with no errors, and Gabby Mallette really had a great match …she hit .458.
“Right now, it’s all about Kentucky.”
The last time the Gators faced the Wildcats on Oct. 11, Florida swept with a final score of 25-20 in all three sets.
“Kentucky, a team that is doing their best, fighting for the best possible seed in the NCAA Tournament, much like the Gators,” Wise said. “Even though neither team can win a conference title, obviously, but both teams have a lot to play for come Wednesday night prior to the selection show.”
The 2013 NCAA selection show Wise referred to is set for Dec. 1 at 9:30 p.m. on ESPNU. On the show, campus sites for the first and second round as well as tournament seeding’s are announced.
Florida is nicely positioned to host first and second round matches from Dec. 5-7, as it did last year. Wise maintained she is still unaware of tournament details.
“At that point there’s nothing more you can do and you just wait til the announcement comes,” Wise said. “We hear it for the very first time as everyone else does when it comes up on TV.”
Follow Erica A. Hernandez on Twitter @EricaAlyssa.
