In front of a raucous crowd that showed out at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center, the Florida volleyball team picked up right where it left off last season, and it was a familiar face leading the way: sophomore Kennedy Martin.
The 6-foot-6 outside hitter was on her A-game, racking up 27 kills in only four sets, including a shortened fourth set. Her strong performance helped pioneer the Gators to a three-set-to-one victory over the Georgia Southern Eagles at the O’Dome Saturday in an exhibition match.
“She’s [Martin] your clean up batter who just drives in runs for your team,” Florida head coach Mary Wise said. “She can score points in so many different ways, and she’s just a special talent who just keeps getting better and better.”
With it being an exhibition bout, all six of Florida’s true freshmen were given valuable playing time in their first opportunity to compete in front of the home crowd.
“Having this many people show up for a preseason match was terrific,” Wise said. “You can’t replicate the pressure of playing an opponent in front of that crowd, and we just learned so many lessons from this experience.”
Freshmen setter Taylor Parks and middle blocker Alec Rothe both started for the Gators, while freshmen middle blocker Jaela Auguste, liberos Ella Vogel and Bella Lee, and opposite hitter Lauren Harden all contributed to the victory off the bench.
Parks was the standout in her collegiate debut, finishing the match with a team-high 46 assists and a set to Harden on the game-winning kill. She started in the place of redshirt sophomore setter Alexis Stucky, who sat out the match as she continues her recovery from a torn ACL and MCL last season.
Post-match, Wise said that it’s a different feel, and that the freshmen handled the pressure by relying on all the veterans around them, particularly Martin and fifth-year Elli McKissock.
McKissock donned her usual libero jersey and was an offensive enforcer for the Gators, leading the match with 16 digs.
Other players not participating in the exhibition for UF included redshirt freshmen libero Gaby Cornier and outside hitter Kira Hutson, as well as sophomore outside hitter Madi Gravlee and senior middle blocker Gabrielle Essix.
Martin racked up five kills in the first set and grabbed Florida’s first ace of the season. She also recorded a set-sealing block to put the finishing touches on a 25-18 set victory.
In the second set, Georgia Southern brought its all against the heavily rotated Gator squad en route to a 25-22 victory. Sophomore outside hitter Reagan Barth led the Eagles with eight kills in the set, including the eventual set-winner.
For Florida, Auguste stepped up when her name was called upon, recording three blocks and three kills in the second set.
Both teams began to trade blows in an intense third set.
The score remained neck-and-neck until the end of the set, where the Gators came away with a 25-23 win. Martin was dominant in the set, totalling 12 kills and the set winner.
With it being an exhibition match, the sides decided to play the fourth set to 15 points. The fourth and final set went to a tiebreaker, where the Gators prevailed 17-15 to win the match.
Florida will next take a trip out West to begin its regular season by taking on Colorado State, Northern Colorado and Michigan State from Aug. 30-Sept. 1 in both Fort Collins and Greeley, Colorado.
Contact Max Bernstein at mbernstein@alligator.org and Shaine Davison at sdavison@alligator.org. Follow them on X @maxbernstein23 and @shainedavison.
