The Gators football team wasn’t the only orange and blue squad winning ugly Saturday.
Despite hitting a season-low .179, No. 4 Florida (5-0) was able to claw its way to a 3-1 (25-22, 25-19, 25-27, 25-21) win over Colorado State (5-1) to complete its sweep of the Campus USA Credit Union Invitational after straight-set victories over Albany and Bowling Green on Friday.
Although they committed a 2010-worst 25 attack errors, the Gators pulled out a victory behind aggressive serving and full-throttle effort.
“We need to clean it up a little bit more, but volleyball is a grind-it-out type of sport,” senior Lauren Bledsoe said.
“Not everything is always going to be pretty, but I think that shows just how hard each team is working.”
Both teams were able to keep the other out of an offensive rhythm by utilizing aggressive serving, highlighted by senior Erin Fleming’s four aces to just one service error.
Florida’s powerful serves made life difficult for the Rams’ attackers, as they were guilty of numerous overpasses and were forced to take a number of attacks from the back row.
This, combined with another strong blocking performance from UF, led to CSU hitting just .151.
“When Colorado State is in system they’re a very good team,” junior Kelly Murphy said. “So we knew that serving would be a big part of our game and we just tried to go back there and get a good serve in.”
CSU came into the match with a similar plan.
Despite committing 13 service errors and just three aces the tactic was successful.
The Gators were forced to play a multitude of attacks from behind the attack line.
Colorado State’s strong serves forced Florida into a bevy of offensive scrambles, highlighted by a point in which Fleming and Kristy Jaeckel made diving plays to keep the ball alive before Murphy was able to play it across with an over-the-shoulder bump from 15 feet behind the baseline.
“As the match wore on, we knew we had to win those effort points because those are a big part of momentum,” Murphy said.
When the Gators actually did manage to get in rhythm they found themselves having to generate opportunities for players other than their outside hitters, who hit a combined .000 on the day.
Stepping up to fill the void were right-side hitters Murphy and Tangerine Wiggs, who provided 13 and six kills, respectively.
Also giving the Gators an offensive lift were the middle blockers, as Cassandra Anderson chipped in eight kills and Bledsoe added 10 of her own.
“The good news is on a night where our pin hitters were having a tough time getting kills we were still able to win,” coach Mary Wise said. “So often it’s all about how good are your left sides, and our left sides did so many other things for us, they just had a harder time killing the ball. But we won that match because of all the other things they do for our team.”
Chief among those things were digs, as Jaeckel logged a team high 14 with Callie Rivers checking in just behind her at 13.
UF swept Albany and Bowling Green on Friday. Jaeckel racked up a combined 17 kills in the two matches and the Gators finished with a nine-block advantage over the Falcons.
