Redshirt senior Tangerine Wiggs has made the most of her three rotations this season by racking up 165 kills, but Friday night she outperformed herself when she set a new school record in Florida’s 3-0 (25-11, 25-8, 25-11) win against Mississippi State.
In 2012, Wiggs has made the most of her swings. The right-side hitter currently ranks second in the Southeastern Conference with a .409 hitting percentage.
Wiggs has made one or fewer errors in more than half of her 21 matches, including six errorless showings. She also is tied for the fewest errors among Florida hitters who have played in at least 36 sets.
Still, the most effective performance of her career came in Friday’s home match against the Bulldogs, in which she had 13 kills for a .929 hitting clip.
“My hitting percentage is solely a reflection of my passers and my setter,” Wiggs said. “I’m blessed to have a really great setter in Taylor Brauneis. She does a really great job of distributing the ball and getting me great looks, and our passers do a great job of putting up passes that create hittable sets for me.”
Wiggs’ hitting percentage set a new Florida record. The previous best was .923 by Benavia Jenkins in 2002. Wiggs also tacked on an assist, a dig and two blocks in the quick match, while leading all players with 14 points.
“Tangerine against either of [Mississippi State’s] left sides was a great matchup for us earlier because of their size,” coach Mary Wise said. “We had a lot of advantage the first time, and that was part of the game plan no matter what lineup it was; we just felt like Tange could get some good swings over there.”
Florida’s win marked its 12th sweep of the season, but it had to do so without redshirt senior Betsy Smith, who turned her ankle in UF’s loss against Florida State on Wednesday in Tallahassee. The middle blocker has been a key part of the Gators’ success this season with 120 kills, 42 digs and 48 blocks.
In Smith’s absence, redshirt freshman Simone Antwi saw an increase in playing time. Antwi registered a block and four kills, including the game-winning point off a set by Brauneis.
“This has happened before in our program where there’s just not enough playing time,” Wise said. “You hate to have it happen by somebody getting an injury, but we knew Simone would be ready.”
The Gators (18-3, 12-0 SEC) had 36 kills against only six errors in addition to recording 10 blocks and five aces. They also performed well on defense, keeping Mississippi State (4-17, 0-12 SEC) to a minus-.141 hitting percentage and only three blocks.
“We did a nice job (on defense) tonight, but it’s also understanding that Mississippi State ran a, best way to put it, nothing-too-fancy offense because they lost their setter earlier,” Wise said. “It’s not like playing Florida State that in every rotation (there are) three hitters running multiple quicks. If we can get [our defense] better, then I think we’ve got a chance to be playing some of the best volleyball at the end of the year.”
A radio broadcast contributed to this report.
Contact Katie Agostin at kagostin@alligator.org.
