For the second time in school history, the Gators enter the NCAA Tournament with the Southeastern Conference Player of the Year, Freshman of the Year and Coach of the Year.
However, 14th overall seed Florida (25-4, 19-1), which plays Tulsa (26-9, 14-2 Conference USA) tonight at 7:30 in the O’Connell Center, would not be where it is today if not for its unsung heroes, coach Mary Wise said.
Wise, who has led Florida to 22 straight NCAA Tournament appearances, said setter Taylor Brauneis and libero Taylor Unroe have been instrumental in doing the grunt work for their grind-it-out team.
“It would be like a football team where at some point you have got to recognize the line and the quarterback,” Wise said.
Brauneis, a junior transfer from Louisville, has taken the role of play caller for Florida. She led the SEC in assists with 1,141.
Her average of 11.64 assists per set is 12th-best in the nation.
The addition of Brauneis to the Gators’ 5-1 offense has given SEC Player of the Year Chloe Mann and SEC Freshman of the Year Ziva Recek prime opportunities for kills, Wise said.
“She just has a high volleyball IQ, and she plays the game (in) what looks to be with little effort as the ball comes out of her hands in such a killable way,” Wise said. “She’s the quarterback. She puts up very catchable passes. As our quarterback, she puts up very killable sets.”
Mann, who has been at the receiving end of many of Brauneis’ passes, said her setter has flawlessly adapted to a new environment while also becoming one of the biggest components to Florida’s winning formula.
“Taylor has done a tremendous job handling the pressure of adjusting to a new school, a new system and new teammates,” Mann said. “She’s definitely ... one of our best assets that we’ve had this year, and we’re so grateful for her.”
Before Brauneis gets the ball to point scorers like Mann and Recek, Unroe has to transfer hard-hit attacks into hittable balls for Brauneis.
The sophomore from Muncie, Ind., has anchored the back-line defense with her 4.43 digs per set — the fifth-best mark in the conference.
Last year, Unroe finished with 3.69 digs per set.
Her service aces per set average has improved from .27 last year to .33 this season.
“For Taylor Unroe, she’s on the floor five and a half of the six rotations, she anchors our serve-receive, but the part of her game that has improved so much, especially in the last month, has been her floor defense,” Wise said.
“The last weekend of the regular season, she put together back-to-back really good matches in terms of not just number of digs, but also quality of digs.”
With the Golden Hurricanes boasting the all-time leading scorer in NCAA history — senior Tyler Henderson — Wise said Unroe and her defense will have their work cut out for them in the first round of the tournament.
Wise is 21-0 in opening-round games during her career at Florida.
“That’s a pretty tough matchup to have in the first round, and I think our fans are in for a treat to see one of the country’s best,” Wise said.
Junior setter Taylor Brauneis (8) celebrates with her teammates during Florida’s 3-0 win against Arkansas on Oct. 5 at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center.
