Over the course of the last month, Florida’s volleyball team has been rolling.
It’s a stretch that has included wins over LSU, Texas A&M and Ole Miss — three of the Southeastern Conference’s best teams.
Tennessee is not one of them.
The No. 8 Gators out-hit, out-blocked and out-played the struggling Volunteers on the road, sweeping them in straight sets (25-9, 25-13, 25-18) to earn their thirteenth consecutive victory and twelfth straight conference win.
Florida (18-3, 12-0 SEC) received a majority of its offensive output from sophomore right side hitter Alex Holston, who finished the match with a team-high 17 points, 14 kills and two service aces.
Tennessee (8-17, 1-10 SEC) struggled to keep up with Florida, as no UT player had more than seven kills. As a team, the Volunteers hit just .128 from the floor.
"I thought our team did a really great job maintaining their focus, staying to the game plan the entire match," coach Mary Wise said.
Florida opened up the match with an 8-3 run, and limited the Vols to just six points for the remainder of the first set. The next set held more of the same for the Gators, at one point jumping out to a 20-8 lead before securing the second set and taking a 2-0 advantage.
UF completed the sweep with help from junior Ziva Recek, who came off the bench to finish with six kills and a .545 hitting percentage, and freshman Rhamat Alhassan, who had nine kills, five total blocks and one service ace.
"You can just see with Ziva how hard it is for her when she comes off the bench… (but) as the set went on she got into a good groove," Wise said. "But the number I’m most happy about is (Rhamat’s) five blocks. For us to beat the elite teams, it’s going to take both her and Simone (Antwi)."
The Vols are one of the youngest teams in the SEC — they have only one senior on their roster and twelve total underclassmen — and on Sunday they played five freshmen.
As Florida built large leads in its three set win, Wise frequently subbed in her younger players to gain experience against the rebuilding Tennessee program.
Among the reserves who played early in the match was freshman setter Abby Detering, who relieved junior Mackenzie Dagostino.
Dagostino finished with 29 assists while Detering had six.
"In those two sets that Abby played I thought her sets to Alex were equally as good (as Dagostino’s)," Wise said. "She had some really good setting choices, delivery and tempo and I think one of Alex’s best swings was one off of Abby."
Next, Florida will travel back to Gainesville to host Alabama, which will likely present the stiffest competition UF has faced in weeks. The Tide are riding a three-match win streak and are fresh off a victory against No. 23 Texas A&M.
"(Alabama is) physical, they play high above the tape, they’re a very good serving team. We will play one of the best right side players we’ll play all year," Wise said. "I think it’ll be an awesome match."
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Alex Holston swings for a kill attempt during Florida's 3-0 win against Missouri in the O'Connell Center.
