Since 2009, Ole Miss volleyball has won just one set against Florida.
Coming into Friday night’s match in Oxford, Mississippi, UF libero Caroline Knop was confident her team would dominate the Southeastern Conference.
“I’m ready to not lose a set,” Knop said. “ I don’t think we should.”
The Gators dropped the first set to the Rebels 26-24.
But when senior Alex Holston went back to serve with the second set tied 4-4, all of Set 1’s shortcomings went out the window.
And Florida never looked back.
The No. 6 Gators defeated Ole Miss 3-1 in their first SEC match of the season.
In the frontcourt, All-American Carli Snyder led the Gators (11-1, 1-0 SEC). The junior slammed down a team-high 16 kills in the match, her 10th double-digit kill match of the season. She also chipped in 12 digs, a block and a service ace.
But in the backcourt, it was all Knop.
The junior registered a career-high 31 digs in the win.
“We don’t win that match without her defensive performance,” UF coach Mary Wise said of Knop. “She got in that groove. … It was almost as if it was in slow motion.”
Knop started struggled early on in the match, but it didn’t affect her going forward.
“I don’t know what it was that triggered her to just another level,” Wise said.
However, Knop was not the only Gator to have a career night.
Six-foot-8 middle blocker Rachael Kramer tallied 12 kills, the first time the freshman has recorded double-digit kills in a match so far in her young career.
In addition, Kramer and fellow middle blocker Rhamat Alhassan, who slammed down 11 kills against the Rebels, teamed up to dominate the net. The duo combined for 12 blocks in the match, stifling the Rebels’ attack and holding them to a dismal .132 hitting percentage.
Redshirt junior Shainah Joseph, who has appeared sparingly since tweaking her ankle in the first match of the season, proved she’s ready to contribute.
The outside hitter registered a season-high seven kills to the tune of a .467 hitting percentage.
And overall, it was a solid match for Florida.
Outside of the first set in which Florida totaled four attack errors and three service errors, the Gators outplayed the Rebels (11-3, 0-1 SEC) in all phases of the game. By game’s end, UF had 61 kills, 73 digs and a whopping 14 blocks.
Wise said she was pleased with her team’s poise in a difficult road environment. Her squad is back on the road Sunday for a 1 p.m. matchup against Alabama in Tuscaloosa.
“Winning on the road is not easy in this league,” she said. “We’ll have a huge, huge challenge Sunday.”
A radio broadcast contributed to this report.
Contact Ray Boone at rboone@alligator.org and follow him on Twitter @rboone1994
UF outside hitter Carli Snyder slams down a kill attempt during Florida's 3-0 win against Jacksonville on Sept. 16, 2016, inside the Lemerand Athletic Center.
