Wisconsin held match point up 14-12 in the fifth set. Florida needed to rattle off two-straight points to force overtime where a team had to win by two.
Setter Marlie Monserez passed the ball to outside hitter T’ara Ceasar too close to the net. The only option available to her was to swing into the Wisconsin’ Dana Rettke and Sydney Hilley block and attempt to ricochet the ball off their arms.
She hit the ball so hard where it felt as fast as an Aroldis Chapman 100-mph fastball that blazed toward home plate. Their arms absorbed the volleyball and sent it back to Florida’s half of the court where it couldn’t keep the rally alive
Match over. Season over.
The Gators fell to the No. 1-seeded and undefeated Wisconsin in heartbreaking fashion after they pushed the Badgers to the limit in a five-set thriller in Omaha, Nebraska, Monday.
The start of the match for Florida looked messy like preschoolers after they painted. The Gators sent too many balls into the net or out of bounds. Outside hitters Thayer Hall and T’ara Ceasar struggled to find a rhythm.
With the score at 18-12 in Wisconsin’s favor, Florida coach Mary Wise used her first timeout. Her team responded with a focus that a fly couldn’t break. They rallied to tie it at 23-23.
The set proceeded into overtime. The Badgers stole the 30-28 first set after a Hall error and a Wisconsin Molly Haggerty kill. Her teammates ambushed her as they screamed and hollered their way back to the bench.
Ceasar become awoke in the break between the first and second set. She blasted eight kills in the frame and helped Florida cruise to a 25-18 second-set victory where it never trailed.
Gators tallied a .333 hitting percentage compared to a poor .091 in the first. They also denied five Wisconsin swings. It also was the Badgers fourth set loss this season.
UF and Wisconsin exchanged the lead back and forth in the third set like school children trade snacks at lunch. The Badgers grabbed the lead and jumped out to a 21-17 advantage behind their star middle blocker Dana Rettke. They captured the third set (25-22) after Ceasar sent a serve into the net. Wisconsin just needed to claim one more set to eliminate Florida.
The Gators fell behind 4-0 in the first act of the fourth set. They surged back to tie it up. The set then entered a seesaw affair until the score 14-14. Florida then outscored the Badgers 11-4 to force the fourth set. Hall registered nine kills to carry her match total to 21.
They jumped out to an early lead in the fifth set before Wisconsin knotted it at 9-9 The Badgers continued to pound Florida to match point where they clinched it on a Rettke and Hilley block. The Gators defeated the Badgers in every statistical category.
“It was a heck of a match,” Wise said. “I couldn’t be more proud of our team and how they battled to hold the number one team to a .153 (hitting percentage.)”
She added that she was proud of the team because people outside of the team didn’t give Florida a chance against Wisconsin.
Hall said she collected a lot of memories competing with the team and overcoming the adversity that they did, but none of them compared to Monday.
“I’ll remember most is, no matter what role anyone had on the floor today, whether it was on the court or on the bench,” she said with tears dried in her eyes. “Everyone put everything that they had out there.”
Gators fall just short of the Final Four. Wise said after the match that none of the senior class will use the extra COVID-19 year the NCAA granted to fall athletes. Their senior class consisted of Paige Hammons, Holly Carlton, Darielle King and Mia Sokolowski.
However, Hammons and Carlton were the only consistent contributors of the bunch. Florida still keeps Hall, Ceasar and Monserez.
Contact Zachary Huber at zhuber@alligator.org and follow him on Twitter @zacharyahuber
