As the Florida volleyball team enters the final month of the season, the Gators have emerged from an early season rough patch and hit their stride recently.
A current six game win streak has showcased the Gators’ potential dominance when the team is firing on all cylinders.
Since the win streak began, the Gators have a combined set record of 18-1.
The lone blemish came during a first-set loss to Kentucky on Oct. 18 by a score of 25-22, a match that resulted in a 3-1 victory for the Gators.
Florida has also seen a more efficient offense and a stout defense over the last six games.
Since the Gators' last lost to Arkansas on Oct. 4, the team has maintained a scorching .379 hitting clip.
Prior to the streak, the team was hitting .296 against all opponents and only .232 in conference play.
UF’s defense has also turned up the heat on opponents.
While the defense was strong before the streak — letting opponents hit a team percentage of just .167 — the Gators have limited opposing offenses to a lowly .123 during the last six games.
On Sunday, Florida held Missouri, the No. 2 ranked team in the Southeastern Conference, to just .009 hitting as a team.
Florida has cleaned up its serve and serve receive errors as well, a critical element of the game that appears simple in its execution yet is essential for success.
Before the recent hot streak, Florida had been averaging over nine service errors per match.
Since then, the Gators have been averaging just over seven.
UF also is averaging only 2.5 return errors per match during that span.
"If you have really strong serve receive and you have a really strong serve behind the end line, you’re going to win that battle," senior setter Mackenzie Dagostino said.
"We always come into practice and talk about the serve and serve-pass battle, and I think in these … past matches we’ve done a great job of winning those battles."
Despite the Gators’ recent success against the top programs in the league, they remain focused on not overlooking opponents at the bottom of the conference standings.
On Friday, the Gators will travel to Columbia to face South Carolina (9-12, 2-7 SEC) before heading to Athens to take on Georgia (5-15, 0-8 SEC) on Sunday.
The Gamecocks and Bulldogs are ranked last and second-to-last, respectively, in the conference.
While South Carolina has lost seven of its last nine games, Georgia has lost 14 of its last 15.
But the Gators and coach Mary Wise have repeatedly said the team isn't overlooking any SEC foe.
Unlike earlier in the season, Florida isn’t taking any opponent for granted.
"We aren’t really overlooking anyone anymore. There’s always an opportunity for a game to go a direction that we don’t want it to go," Dagostino said.
"We have to make sure like we’re treating them the like we would treat any team in or outside of the SEC and making sure we’re playing the best volleyball the Gators can play."
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UF setter Mackenzie Dagostino sets the ball for middle blocker Simone Antwi during Florida's 3-1 win against Florida State on Sept. 20, 2015, in the O'Connell Center.
