Florida added another Southeastern Conference win to its belt on Sunday at Mississippi State.
In it’s 3-0 sweep of the Bulldogs, the Gators (10-3, 4-0 SEC) closed its second weekend of SEC play, but not without a fight.
In Florida’s history, Mississippi State has never beat Florida. Sunday’s win was the Gators 44th consecutive win against the Bulldogs and the 35 under coach Mary Wise.
Mississippi State (5-13, 0-3 SEC) jumped out to a strong start in the first set tying Florida in points nine times.
After Wise called a timeout and made a change in game plan, Florida pulled ahead and took the first set 25-18.
Florida finished its sweep of Mississippi State in two more sets (25-18, 25-23), but Wise was unhappy with Florida’s defensive performance.
Florida’s three senior defensive specialists had a rough day. Holly Pole, Florida’s libero, finished the match with just 10 digs, two service errors and one service ace. Maddy Monserez came behind Pole with nine digs and one service error and teammate Taylor Unroe finished with two digs and a match-high four service errors. Florida finished the match with a total of 13 service errors in just three sets.
"Alex (Holston) got a little impatient," Wise said. "It wasn’t Taylor Unroe’s best match. … I did not see that Maddy and Holly continue to show their grit and poise. … Sometimes she (Pole) plays as a D.S. instead of a libero, I’d like her to literally push people out of the way to take the first ball."
While Florida underperformed on the defense, junior middle blocker Simone Antwi led the Gators with 11 kills on 16 attempts and a .562 attacking clip to finish the match.
The middle blocker had an undisclosed injury that kept her from competing in Florida’s loss to Marquette on Sept. 19. After about two weeks time out from practice and competing, Antwi made her way back to the court in Florida’s first SEC matches of the season against Auburn on Sept. 26 and Ole Miss on Sept. 28.
"I thought the difference maker for tonight was Simone – in terms of both offense and defense," Wise said. "When she was in the front row, we scored a bunch of points."
In unusual form, junior setter Mackenzie Dagostino also struggled in Florida’s win against Mississippi State.
Dagostino finished the day with 38 assists, one service ace and three service errors. The junior struggled connecting with freshman Rhamat Alhassan, who finished the day with 10 kills on 18 attempts with three attacking errors.
Dagostino’s passes weren’t high enough for the 6-foot-4 freshman and resulted in Alhassan being unable to fully extend her arm when attempting to make kills.
"It was a quiet 10 (kills)," Wise said. "I think Rhamat, she got a little impatient and kind of reverted to some of the swings that worked for her in the beginning of her volleyball career."
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Simone Antwi (16) hits the ball over the net for a kill attempt during Florida's 3-0 win against Ole Miss in the O'Connell Center.
