You don’t often see teams take an 11-0 lead in a set.
But you almost never see teams come back from that type of deficit to win the set.
No. 4 Florida (1-0) did just that as it swiped the second set 32-30 against James Madison University (3-1) and eventually won in straight sets (25-16, 32-30, 25-18) in its season opener Saturday night in Harrisonburg, Virginia.
UF’s second-set comeback was so rare that even veteran head coach Mary Wise was shocked.
“I can’t remember a time we were down 11-0 and won,” she said.
The Gators took the first set 25-16 fairly easily, thanks in part to blocking from players like sophomore middle blocker Rhamat Alhassan, who had six block assists in the set.
Alhassan finished with 14 block assists, a school record and career high for the Glenarden, Maryland, native.
UF hit a wall to open the second set, as JMU rolled off 11 straight points.
But Florida rallied all the way back and had a set point at 24-23, to which sophomore Abby Detering mishit a serve out of bounds to tie it up.
The Gators and Dukes seesawed point after point before sophomore outside hitter Carli Snyder emphatically put down a kill to take the set 32-30.
UF controlled much of the third set.
After the score evened at 15-15, Florida won nine straight points to take a 24-15 lead before closing out the set 25-18 and sealing the victory.
Wise said her team learned a lot about themselves after coming out of the match with a sweep.
“Our team showed a lot of character in our ability to come back in the second set,” she said in a release. “After just the first match of the year, our hope is that we can improve from the first match to the second as we’ve done in the past.”
Leading the scoring for the Gators was senior outside hitter Ziva Recek, who totaled a game-high 17 kills throughout the match. The Kočevje, Slovenia, native also added six digs and six block assists.
“Ziva was really really good for us offensively,” Wise said.
The Gators will look to continue their winning ways against American University Sunday at 4 p.m. in Washington, D.C.
A radio broadcast contributed to this report.
Follow Patrick Pinak on Twitter @Pinakk12
Rhamat Alhassan (1) and Ziva Recek (9) attempt to block a kill attempt by a Missouri player during the Gators' 3-0 win against the Tigers in the O'Connell Center.
