For the eighth year in a row, the Gators are among the final 16 teams alive in the NCAA Tournament.
No. 14 Florida (27-4) knocked off College of Charleston (27-8) in three sets (25-20, 25-16, 25-14) on Saturday night in the O’Connell Center.
UF travels to Austin, Texas, for a rematch against Texas on Dec. 7 at 8 p.m.
The Longhorns, the NCAA Tournament’s No. 3 overall seed, defeated the Gators in three sets (29-27, 25-22, 26-24) on Aug. 31 as part of the Nike Big Four Classic at Penn State.
On Saturday, Florida survived a close first set before separating itself from the start of the second set. UF never surrendered the lead.
As Florida’s offensive numbers increased, College of Charleston’s hitting percentage declined. Gators coach Mary Wise credited the defensive effort mostly to middle blockers Betsy Smith and Chloe Mann.
"We rely so much on those middles on the court," Wise said. "They’re like coaches on the floor. There are a lot of adjustments that are made and not made between serves, but while the ball is in play. And those two have developed such a high volleyball IQ."
While Smith and Mann combined for eight blocks, they also contributed offensively with 18 kills and a .500 hitting percentage.
Mann, the Southeastern Conference Player of the Year, said the middles owed their success to their teammates.
"The way we excelled tonight was definitely due to our amazing passing," Mann said. "Even on defense, our back-row players were able to get the ball in good positions for Taylor [Unroe] to distribute really evenly. And I think the fact that Taylor spread the ball so well gave us a lot of open looks throughout the stretch."
Tangerine Wiggs was one of three seniors to play her last match in the O’Connell Center, but she gave it little thought.
"It was exciting to play our last game in the O’Dome, but by no means do we want this to be our last game we play," Wiggs said. "We don’t want our last game to be until very far in December. Our main goal is much further down the road."
Wise said her team was still learning about itself three months ago. Now, the players are much more comfortable with their roles and what they need to do to advance past the Sweet 16 for the second consecutive year.
When the Gators first faced the Longhorns, they were still adjusting after losing Noami Santos-Lamb to an ACL tear. Now, they have grown accustomed to the lineup.
"We were making it up on the fly a lot," Wise said. "Right now, we have a much better idea of who we are. We take that experience but know the score is 0-0 when we walk on that floor – their floor."
