Florida volleyball has found its rhythm.
After sweeping Arkansas on Friday, senior setter Mackenzie Dagostino sensed a change in the team's energy heading into Sunday's match against Missouri,
"If I was Missouri I’d be worried coming into this game," Dagostino said.
"We’ve gotten our mojo back."
After suffering back-to-back five-set defeats against Missouri and Arkansas on the road earlier this month as part of a three-game losing skid, questions arose about UF’s abilities.
But the Gators trampled the Tigers and Razorbacks over the weekend in the O’Connell Center, sweeping both matches and earning their fifth- and sixth-straight victory.
The victories were nice for coach Mary Wise’s team, but she was happier with what they learned from the losses and how they applied that knowledge this weekend.
"We never said this was a revenge week or we’re avenging losses," Wise said.
However, it sure looked as if Florida was playing with a vengeance.
UF didn’t allow Missouri or Arkansas to score more than 17 points in any set, outscoring them 150-85.
In the losses to both teams earlier this month, Florida held its opponents to less than 17 points in just one of the eight 25-point sets.
"That speaks a lot to our team defense, plays that we’re able to make now (and) what we’re doing from an offensive standpoint," Wise said.
On the attacking side against Missouri, the Gators took advantage of opportunities using their outside hitters.
Sophomore Carli Snyder led the way with 12 kills while senior Ziva Recek followed with 11 kills. Both hit over .400.
"Ziva and Carli did a terrific job in finishing plays," Wise said.
"(They made) really good decisions in creating kills."
Against Arkansas it was the 6-foot-4 sophomore middle blocker Rhamat Alhassan, who pounded a match high 14 kills on 19 swings.
In both the Friday and Sunday matches, Florida held its opponents to hitting percentages below .100.
Offensively, UF hit .449 against Arkansas and .398 versus Missouri.
Florida also managed to stop Missouri’s Carly Kan, one of the Southeastern Conference’s best outside hitters. Kan, who ranks 7th in kills in the SEC, tallied just nine kills on 36 swings against the Gators defense Sunday.
"We held one of the premier players in the league well below her hitting percentage," Wise said. "That’s a team effort."
Wise said her biggest takeaways from this weekend were the low-error play and UF's ability to disrupt opposing team’s’ hitters.
"Those are things that work well for us and we’ll try to work on the rest of the season."
The Gators proved their versatility and efficiency this weekend, but more importantly they bounced back and showed their resiliency.
Wise is content with where her team is, but she knows there’s more work to do.
"We’re trending in the right direction, and it’s about improvement," she said. "It helps sell the plan to the players when the results are with wins, (but) regardless of the outcome we see where we’re getting better and that’s what you’re trying to do in college athletics."
But improvement does no good if it means having to learn from losses against teams Florida may see just once.
Once the regular season comes to an end and postseason play arrives, UF won’t get the chance to learn from a loss.
That’s Wise’s main focus now.
"We’ve gotta learn how to speed up that learning process when you only play a team once," she said.
Essentially, the only season that matters is the postseason.
Wise is trying to lead Florida deep into the NCAA tournament, which she said is a season-long process.
"What you’re trying to do is be a much better team in December, and we have these four months to make that happen," she said.
Follow Patrick Pinak on Twitter @Pinakk12
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.
