In this edition of the Alligator Awards, we debate which female athlete was the best of the 2015-16 season. Sports writers Ray Boone, Matt Brannon and Alejandro López join alligatorSports Editors Ian Cohen and Ethan Bauer in a roundtable discussion to debate the five nominees. Debates will go in alphabetical order by the writer’s last name.
Bauer: Alhassan led the Gators through a down year
Since taking over as head coach of Florida’s volleyball team in 1991, Mary Wise has built the program into a juggernaut. And right now, that elite status is dependent on Rhamat Alhassan.
This season was considered a down one for the Gators, whose seven losses were the most suffered under Wise.
Still, true to its usual form, the team made it to the Elite 8 before being ousted by Texas.
In a down year such as this one, the 11-seed Gators shouldn’t have been one set away from the Final Four. But thanks to Alhassan, they were able to come that close.
The then-sophomore was named an AVCA first-team All-American in 2015, mostly as a result of her blocking skills.
She tallied 1.62 blocks per set, which was second in the nation. Her .422 hitting percentage was also among the country’s best, coming in at No. 9.
Using her towering frame, the 6-foot-4 middle blocker led her own team in both those categories and also in total points with 485.5.
In short, she was paramount to the team’s success. Without her, Florida’s season could’ve been significantly worse.
With her, the Gators came within two points of a Final Four berth.
Plus, she crochets. I know this is a best female athlete competition, but that has to give her some coolness points.
Boone: Graziano’s growth important to team’s success
Nicole Graziano dominated college lacrosse last season.
The 2016 Big East Midfielder of the Year was the focal point of a Florida team that went 18-2 and swept the conference’s regular season and tournament titles.
A redshirt senior, Graziano became just the sixth player in program history to score 100 career goals, doing so on Senior Day against UConn where she tallied three goals against the Huskies in a 13-8 victory.
The Mendham, New Jersey, native had a banner year across the board, setting career highs in goals (44), assists (17), points (61), ground balls (31), caused turnovers (22) and draw controls (45), leading the team outright in goals, points and draw controls.
Her outstanding play put her in position to receive the Tewaaraton Award. On May 15, Graziano was named one of five women’s finalists for college lacrosse’s highest honor, becoming the fourth Gator to ever be named a finalist for the award.
Graziano left her mark not only on the Florida lacrosse program, but on the University as a whole.
Her considerable impact is why she was Florida’s best female athlete in 2016.
Brannon: High-scoring freshman deserves your vote
While the freshman from Greece may have a tenuous grasp on the English language, Eleanna Christinaki has a strong grip on her role as a starter on Florida’s women’s basketball team.
The team’s only true freshman came one assist away from logging the Gators’ third-ever triple double after scoring 14 points with 10 rebounds against UCF in December.
UF wouldn’t have had nearly the success it had this season if it weren’t for the three-time Southeastern Conference Freshman of the Week.
After playing just four minutes in the season-opening loss to Temple, she played 28 minutes — registering 13 points, seven assists and four steals — in the Gators’ upset victory over No. 6 FSU that propelled them to a 12-game win streak.
By the end of the season, Christinaki was playing more minutes per game than anyone.
The 6-foot Athenian led the team in total points and compiled 106 assists, 29 more than the next Gator on the list.
But not all of her accomplishments show up in the stat sheet.
The freshman showed veteran poise when she stole a last-second inbound pass from No. 12 Kentucky and drove to the rim, getting fouled and converting the three-point play to put the game out of reach.
She had the highest-scoring individual game for the Gators when she dropped 22 on Vanderbilt after scoring 11 consecutive points in a seven-minute span in the fourth quarter.
The freshman scored in every game except one and led the team in scoring in nine different games, more than any teammate.
Cohen: Sloan ends decorated career with record-setting senior year
As if all of it wasn’t enough — her 31 All-America selections, her six NCAA individual championships, her three team national titles — Bridget Sloan bookended her collegiate career with one final award last Thursday.
She was named the SEC Female Athlete of the Year, becoming the sixth female athlete from Florida to win the ward in program history.
And this year, no athlete in the nation was more deserving.
Sloan ended her final meet as a Gator, and her final meet competing in the packed, boisterous O’Connell Center with a perfect 10.0 score on her floor routine.
And after her All-Around score of 39.775 in that same meet, she became just one of three gymnasts in the nation to earn that high of a score during the regular season. Except she did it twice.
Sloan is Florida’s career leader in perfect 10s, a fitting statistic for the competitor who was nearly flawless over her four-year career, and especially her last as a Gator.
Simply put, Sloan has dominated her sport like no other UF athlete has this year.
Like no other athlete in the nation.
López: Jordan drove Gators high-powered offense
Take one look at Savannah Jordan’s 2015 stat sheet for Florida’s soccer team, and a host of figures jump off of the page.
The Fayetteville, Georgia, native notched a goal for each of the 24 games she played, 13 more than Brooke Sharp — the Gators’ best secondary scorer — and good for second in the country.
Those 24 goals accounted for approximately 39 percent of UF’s total, powering the SEC’s highest-scoring offense and leading the seventh-best attack in the nation.
She also posted 55 points, more than doubling her nearest teammate on the scoresheet and generating roughly a third of UF’s total offensive output on the year. What’s more — the striker led her club in shots on target (64) and game-winning goals (4).
More often than not, the team went as Jordan did. And that boded well for them, too: Jordan was one of three Gators to play every minute of every game, a testament to her consistency.
Her season may not have culminated in a national title, but Jordan still lugged home hardware. Her on-field performances resulted in a third NSCAA first-team All-America selection, a second nod as SEC Offensive Player of the Year and a third spot on the All-SEC first team.
Make no mistake: Savannah Jordan was an integral part of the defending SEC champs’ roster, and was, arguably, the university’s most influential female athlete this past season.
Who do you think was the best female athlete of the 2015-16 season? Vote online at alligator.org/sports.
UF's Carli Snyder (left) and Rhamat Alhassan celebrate during Florida's 3-0 win against New Hampshire Dec. 3, 2015, in the O'Connell Center.
