Florida has one last opportunity to improve aspects of its game before the start of the NCAA Tournament.
The No. 1 Gators (26-1, 19-0 Southeastern Conference) will take on South Carolina (7-22, 4-15 SEC) Friday at 7 p.m. in Columbia, S.C.
If the Gators win, they will become the first team since 2003 to go undefeated in the SEC. The last team to do so was a Florida squad that lost in the national championship match.
“Now we’re in a position Friday night to do something that hasn’t been done since ’03, and that is to go undefeated in the league,” coach Mary Wise said. “I was one of the people who said I don’t know if you’ll see an undefeated SEC team again. There’s too much parity, too many good players and a double round-robin is just grueling.”
With the SEC title already in the hands of the Orange and Blue, Friday’s match against the Gamecocks will be for pride and a top seed in the NCAA Tournament.
“We’re playing for a lot on Friday night, and Sunday we’ll sit back and wait,” Wise said. “If we can win Friday night we’ll feel real confident that we’ll be one of the top four seeds in the country going into the tournament.”
The Gators met the Gamecocks in Gainesville on Oct. 27. Florida won easily in straight sets 3-0 (25-20, 25-17, 25-13).
The team knows not to take Friday’s match for granted and wants to do what the 2003 Gators did.
“It’s important that we play well in every match,” senior middle blocker Lauren Bledsoe said. “You can’t take any opponent for granted because that would be the one match that you don’t see coming. We need to go ahead and really work hard for South Carolina.”
“They’re really a good team. They play good defense, so we’re going to have to work really hard when playing them. Every match is important when we have a goal of going undefeated.”
Florida will once again look to senior outside hitter Callie Rivers. Rivers, who was named SEC Offensive Player of the Week for her performances last week, hit an errorless .524 with 11 kills, four service aces and five digs against South Carolina earlier in the season.
With a win Friday, the Gators will extend their winning streak to 22 matches, the second-longest run in the nation.
“It’s a huge deal to go undefeated,” Bledsoe said. “It would mean everything and that is something that’s really cool.”
