It took three weeks, but for the first time this season the No. 15 Gators (6-2) are in control of both sides of the net.
During the first weekend of the 2012 season, coach Mary Wise scrambled to put together a new lineup when outside hitter Noami Santos-Lamb suffered an ACL teal during the Orange & Blue Scrimmage on Aug. 18. This redirected the team’s focus to its offense.
“We had to spend so much of our time on the offensive side: Who’s going to generate points off of services in transition,” Wise said. “The defense was not able to get as much attention.”
Unfortunately for Florida, No. 4 Texas and No. 8 Stanford took advantage of UF’s neglected back row during the Nike Big Four Classic in University Park, Pa.
However, in the last weekend before Southeastern Conference play, the Gators showed that they have a handle on both their hitting and defense as they grabbed three wins in the Active Ankle Challenge.
Florida opened up the weekend on Friday night with a hitting showcase in a 3-0 (25-18, 25-11, 25-11) win against Jacksonville.
With the help of Tangerine Wiggs, Ziva Recek, Betsy Smith, Gabby Mallette and Dana Backlund, the Gators hit .468, their highest hitting percentage since Oct. 2, 2011, when they hit .469 at Georgia. The five combined for 38 kills, accounted for 81 percent of the Gators points and hit .540.
“As hitters, our job is to just finish it off, and I think a lot of the praise needs to go to the passer and the setters,” Wiggs said. “For our passers, it’s really a reflection of how hard they work and how hard our setters work to get us good, hittable balls.”
The momentum of UF’s attack continued as it faced Louisiana-Lafayette on Saturday.
Despite dropping a set, the Gators still came away with a 3-1 (25-15, 25-14, 23-25, 25-12) win, while tallying 55 kills and 7 aces.
However, it wasn’t until the weekend’s final match that Florida’s defense came alive.
Florida relied on blocking and back row defense in a 3-1 (22-25, 25-15, 25-21, 25-22) win over Georgia Tech, UF’s toughest competition so far in the O’Connell Center.
Smith, Wiggs and Chloe Mann led the team to a season-high 11 blocks, while libero Taylor Unroe racked up 17 digs.
“All the teams competed with us, but Georgia Tech really gave us a run for our money,” Unroe said. “That first set we came out asleep, and they made us pay for it. We did a good job of recovering and playing hard, and that’s how we won the game.”
With both its offense and defense at the top of its game simultaneously, Florida feels ready to take on its first SEC opponent.
“We’ve talked about it all preseason that the season really starts Sept. 14 at Arkansas,” Smith said. “We’re really excited to take this show on the road and show the SEC what we’re made of.”
Contact Katie Agostin at kagostin@alligator.org.
UF coach Mary Wise (above) will square off against former Gator and current LIU-Brooklyn assistant coach Jennifer Robinson when both teams play tonight at 7:30.
