For the first time since 2005, the Gators volleyball team reached the Elite Eight.
The unseeded Florida squad rebounded from two first-set losses in the first and second rounds of the tournament to make it back to the O’Connell Center to play in Gainesville.
Then Friday night’s defeat of Michigan in the Sweet 16 marked UF’s first sweep of the tournament.
But in Saturday’s 1-3 loss (22-25, 25-23, 14-25, 20-25) to third-seeded Illinois in the NCAA Tournament Regional Finals, those firsts were out-shadowed by the Gators’ inability to control what proved to be the most important first of the tournament — first contact on serve receive.
“The difference was the serve and pass game,” Illinois coach Kevin Hambly said. “We passed a little bit better, and they were out of system and they made some errors because of that.”
The Gators struggled to control passing from the start of the match, and were held to a .024 attacking percentage in the first set after their out-of-system defense led to 11 attack errors.
Florida also couldn’t contain the Illini’s senior outside hitter Colleen Ward, who, in 2008, played in O’Connell Center in a Gators jersey.
Ward, who was named to the All-SEC Freshman Team at Florida before she transferred to Illinois, hit .500 with 23 kills on 42 swings, while also digging 11 balls for the Illini.
“I think she enjoyed coming back here,” Hambly said. “She likes this place. She has good memories of this place. She wanted to perform well for the fans that watched her for a couple years. … It was weird for her, but I think she handled it great.”
Although Florida eventually found its offensive rhythm to hit .225 in the match, the Illini out-played the Gators from the back line with five aces and few mistakes on serve receive.
“We were right there with them on blocks and we out-dug them,” UF coach Mary Wise said. “Parts of the game we were right there, if not better, but it was all a matter of the first contact. We were playing catch-up.”
That catch-up was put into action at the net by senior setter and right-side hitter Kelly Murphy and senior outside hitter Kristy Jaeckel, who led Florida to a second-set victory on combined .500 hitting.
Murphy ended her season with her 30th triple-double as a Gator — which she notched before the fourth set even started — on 13 kills, 21 assists and a team-high 17 digs. Jaeckel finished not far behind with a double-double, capping her Florida career with 19 kills on 40 swings and 11 digs.
“I can’t say enough about these two, to go out swinging,” Wise said. “Unfortunately, we didn’t get every Gators’ A-game, and we knew that to win the match we would need everybody’s A-game and a couple of some of our players just had an off night. But it wasn’t Kristy and Kelly. They have given everything possible throughout their careers.”
And although the pair won’t be headed to their first Final Four, both Murphy and Jaeckel had no complaints about the Gators’ postseason battle.
“Going into the tournament we may not have been a seeded team, but we went out and fought as hard as we could,” Jaeckel said, “and I think that we played the best volleyball that we have all season.
Tonight didn’t go our way, but I couldn’t be more proud of everyone who stepped up and took their game to the next level these past couple weeks.”
