After playing three games in six days, the Gators will finally have some extra time to prepare for their next match.
No. 1 Florida (17-1, 10-0 Southeastern Conference) will take on Kentucky (11-9, 5-5 SEC) on Sunday in the O’Connell Center at 1:30 p.m.
This will be the second meeting between the two teams this season. The Gators defeated the Wildcats in Lexington, Ky., 3-1 (18-25, 25-19, 25-13, 25-20) on Sept. 17.
“Where it wasn’t perfect or ideal for Tennessee, at least it was our second time playing them,” coach Mary Wise said. “I think it would’ve been much harder if it was the first time that we played Tennessee coming off just two days of preparation. We get two days before Kentucky, where normally it would just be one day.”
With only ten matches remaining in the regular season, Wise did not expect her team to be in such a favorable position.
“Did I think we would be at this point in terms of our record? No,” Wise said. “None of us saw that coming based on who we were playing in September, based on that schedule — as we went from at Florida State, at Tennessee, at Kentucky — none of us would have predicted (so much success).”
UF held Kentucky to a hitting percentage of .116 in the first match. However, the Gators hit only .229 and had just two players hit over .250 — junior setter Kelly Murphy and sophomore right side hitter Tangerine Wiggs.
Serves and blocks were not a problem for the Gators in the last meeting. They finished with 14 blocks and seven service aces. However, Wise says the team is a work in progress and there is still room to improve.
“Things aren’t happening quite as regular, and it’s not ingrained in terms of some of the things we’re asking them to do,” Wise said. “We’re improving in all aspects of our game.”
Against Tennessee on Wednesday, the Gators were out-blocked by the Volunteers in UF’s 3-0 (25-20, 25-23, 25-20) victory, leaving the team with room to improve before Sunday.
“A big thing that we’re going to work on is our defense,” junior outside hitter Kristy Jaeckel said. “We left a couple blocks out there and definitely some digs out there so I think those are some big things we’re going to key on the next couple days.”
Jaeckel is coming off a performance of 12 kills and a .346 hitting percentage.
“Kentucky is a great offensive team, they always play awesome against us and it’s always a fun match,” Jaeckel said.
