For the second consecutive weekend, No. 9 Florida (12-3, 6-0 Southeastern Conference) closed its weekend matchups with two wins against conference opponents.
Starting out the weekend against unranked Georgia (9-7, 1-3 SEC) on Friday, Florida finished the night with a sweep of the Bulldogs.
While Florida closed the night 3-0 against Georgia, Sunday’s matchup against No. 19 Texas A&M was the biggest game of the weekend for volleyball.
Florida swept A&M 25-12, 25-23 and 25-17, a feat defensive specialist Taylor Unroe credited to Florida’s scouting report.
The Aggies are the first ranked conference opponent that Florida has faced this season, but they proved to be just a small bump in Florida’s road to the postseason.
However, even with a sweep, coach Mary Wise said the Florida squad knew it had to come into the game aggressive to pull out the win.
"You play three matches on the road and you appreciate being home," Wise said.
"Friday night was a great crowd. (There was) a lot of energy in the building. Going into this match, what they (the team) saw on video they knew that the only way we’d beat this team is with their A-game. That was the message and today we got everyone’s A-game."
It’d be hard to say Wise was wrong about her team’s performance on Sunday.
Or even just for the conference portion of the Gators season. So far, Florida has swept five of its six conference opponents and has held conference opponents to under a .200 attacking percentage.
Florida’s defense was able to hold Texas A&M to a team attack percentage of .000 in both the first and third set. Overall, the Aggies were held to a .119 hitting efficiency.
Florida, on the other hand, dominated on offense, finishing the match with a .395 attack clip.
Leading Florida’s effort on the offensive was sophomore right-side hitter Alex Holston, who ended the day with 13 kills on 22 attempts with only one error finishing with a .545 clip on Sunday.
Defensively she was just as powerful, making seven digs, one solo block and two block assists.
On defense, Unroe had one of her best games of the season. The senior had 10 digs and two service aces for the day.
Unroe was Florida’s libero last season and achieved honors like SEC Libero of the Year and AVCA All-Southeast Region 2013 selection.
But senior Holly Pole has taken on the position since she was switched with Unroe halfway through Florida’s match against Oklahoma on Aug. 30.
"We started with her in the right back, so she got more opportunities and took advantage of them, and that’s how the game is played." Wise said. "You don’t know when you’re name is going to be called, what rotation, how fast it’s going to be or how long you’re going to be on the court so you take advantage of the opportunities, and that’s what she did today."
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Taylor Unroe jumps to serve during Florida's 3-0 win against Texas A&M on Sunday in the O'Connell Center.
