The No. 5 Gators walked out of the O’Connell Center on Saturday as the Active Ankle Challenge champions but not without taking some major blows on defense.
Florida swept Iona in the afternoon match (25-14, 25-12, 27-25) with almost an entirely different lineup than it has had in previous games this season. Taylor Brauneis didn’t play at all, Ziva Recek only appeared late in the third set and Nikki O’Rourke replaced Madison Monserez in the back line for most of the match.
Noami Santos-Lamb, who still wears a brace from last year’s ACL tear, started and played nearly the entirety of the Iona match.
Even with Wise mixing up her lineup, the Gators still hit .386 as a team, including a .556 clip in the second set.
However, Florida showed some holes on defense in the third set as the Gaels recorded more kills in the final set (13) than it did the previous two sets combined (11).
“A team takes their final timeout, they’re close to losing a set and they raise their level,” Wise said.
The Gators held onto the sweep against the Gaels as Wise was forced to finally play Recek, who recorded two of the final seven kills for Florida.
However, UF would face a similar situation against Western Michigan in the second game of the double header.
The Gators took the first and second sets, despite allowing the Broncos to hit .231 and .263, respectively.
In the third set, Florida’s struggles behind the service line and on the front line of the defense were too much to overcome as Western Michigan won 30-28, despite the Gators having five separate chances at match point.
“We had no answer for them defensively because they were in system all night long,” Wise said. “They passed nails.”
The Broncos took advantage of the Gators’ lack of ability to serve aggressively, Wise said. Florida also shot itself in the foot with 13 service errors.
UF managed to rebound in the fourth set to close out the game (25-21, 25-22, 28-30, 25-18) behind Recek’s six kills and Chloe Mann’s .833 hitting clip. Despite the Gators showing their holes on defense, their offense stayed in sync the entire match by hitting .377 as a team.
“It was in general,” Recek said. “We were tired by the end, but we had to finish strong. Taking care of those first balls and passing were really important for this game . . . so we would have many options open.”
Follow Jonathan Czupryn on Twitter @jczupryn.
Ziva Recek spikes the ball over the net in Florida’s 3-0 win against Arkansas on Oct. 5, 2012, in the O’Connell Center.
