Alex Holston’s dad has been counting down the days to the Gators’ first two season games this weekend.
"He’s been talking about it a lot," Holston said. "I think he started a countdown like 21 days ago like ‘Oh, I’ll see you in 21 days down here.’"
Holston, from Olney, Maryland, is one of a group of Florida players that includes Rhamat Alhassan and Simone Antwi who’ll be heading home to play in front of their family and friends.
UF takes on James Madison tomorrow at 7 p.m. in Harrisonburg, Virginia, and American University Sunday at 4 p.m. in Washington, D.C.
Holston said she’s excited to play in front of family members who can’t travel to Gainesville to watch her play.
"Finally my dad doesn’t have to fly three hours across the country to come see me," she said. "It’s like a 45 minute drive."
Alhassan, a sophomore middle blocker, hails from Glenarden, Maryland, a city just 20 miles east of American and 150 miles northeast from James Madison.
Alhassan said she’s excited to have her mom in the stands, but it won’t put any pressure on her.
"I don’t really think like, ‘Oh, hey my mom’s up there,’" she said. "I love having her up there but I always go in focused and doing what I have to do."
Antwi, a junior middle blocker from Fairfax Station, Virginia, said she hopes her family attends, considering their proximity to both universities.
"I invited them, so we’ll see if they actually show up," she said.
And like Holston, Antwi agreed that she’s thrilled to have family and friends watch her that don’t normally have a chance to.
"My parents do come down a lot and stuff, but my friends don’t so I’m excited for them to see me live," Antwi said. "Not on TV or on a stat tracker or anything."
Head coach Mary Wise said these games weren’t scheduled by accident.
"What we try and do in a four year period is to bring the players back home, especially if they come from a part of the country that we don’t see in regular season play," Wise said.
"Part of it was trying to play the best competition and the other part was who’d say yes."
And because everyone else’s seasons are also starting around the country, Wise and her team don’t have video of their opponents yet. All three of Holston, Alhassan and Antwi agreed that all they can do is just play volleyball.
"It’s basically going in and playing Gator volleyball, and worrying about what we have to do on our side," Alhassan said.
While Holston described Florida volleyball by saying it’s about having fun and playing with chemistry, Wise had a more dynamic answer.
"What we’d like to be is a team that makes it real hard to score on," she said. "Whether that be our front row blocking or our back row defense."
While everyone from the players to Wise is excited to finally start the season, Antwi was specifically pumped to end the monotonous scrimmaging routine.
"We’ve been playing against each other for like two straight weeks," she said. "So it’s nice to finally play someone that isn’t our own teammates."
And Wise set the record straight when asked if it’s ever hard to motivate her team for these first few games.
"Are you kidding?" she said with a big grin.
"You ask any player, any decade, any part of the world, would you rather practice or play? It’s unanimous."
Follow Patrick Pinak on Twitter @Pinakk12
Sophomore right-side hitter Alex Holston swings for a kill attempt during No. 8 seed Florida's 3-1 win against Miami in the second round of the 2014 NCAA Tournament on Dec. 6 in the O'Connell Center.
