All good things must come to an end.
The UF volleyball team lost to the University of Kentucky in four sets on Sunday afternoon, marking its first Southeastern Conference defeat since November 2013 against Missouri, an impressive streak of 23 consecutive games.
The No. 5 Gators (9-2, 1-1 SEC) looked sluggish from the start and the No. 24 Wildcats (9-5, 2-0 SEC) took full advantage.
The teams traded leads throughout the game’s opening set. Despite sloppy play, Florida squeaked out the win by a score of 25-22.
Not much else went right after that.
The Gators dropped the next three in straight sets 23-25, 21-25 and 21-25.
"Everyone came in knowing Kentucky was gonna be a great team. They’ve always been a very good SEC competition team for us and they played great," said senior setter Mackenzie Dagostino, who led the Gators with 40 assists.
"Wasn’t my best night setting, I have no problem admitting that."
Florida struggled for much of the night with normally routine yet critical elements of the game such as serving and service receiving. The Gators also struggled with hitting percentage also it went down after the first set.
After hitting .310 in the opening set, UF hit .139, .100 and .176 in the last three sets respectively. Florida ended up hitting .190 in the match, the team’s worst hitting percentage this year.
Having not lost at the O’Connell Center since just over a year ago, Florida’s players appeared shell-shocked as the Wildcats celebrated a victory on the Gator’s home court.
"It is the first one in a while, but it’s still a good learning opportunity again for us to understand OK, we might be top in the SEC right now, but what’s it going to be at the end of the year? And what are we gonna do to make sure we keep that spot," Dagostino said.
Good teams and coaches find ways to turn a tough loss into a learning experience to better prepare for the future.
"Unfortunately we just didn’t play like the Gators usually play and I think they took advantage of that which is very good on their part," Dagostino said. "But at the same time I think it’s really important for us to take this loss as a learning opportunity and understand OK, we’re not as good as we can be yet, so we can get better from this experience and I think that’s what we’re gonna do come Monday in practice,"
"A loss is a loss, regardless of who it’s to, it’s not fun."
Head coach Mary Wise shared the same sentiment. While clearly disappointed, she pointed out that there were positives to be taken away from this game.
"They were better than us offensively and they were better than us defensively," Wise said.
"It happens, but it gives us an opportunity to now see who we are today and make this a point for how we can get better."
Follow Brian Lee on Twitter @Brianlee_17
UF coach Mary Wise calls out to setter Mackenzie Dagostino during Florida's 3-1 loss to Kentucky on Sept. 27, 2015, in the O'Connell Center.
