Last season, Florida sophomore outside hitter Kennedy Martin set her career high in kills with 28 against Tennessee last November.
One year later, she broke that record with 31 kills, once again against the Volunteers.
The No. 24 Gators volleyball squad went through their typical pregame ritual, running onto the court with Albert and dancing along to the highlight montage on the jumbotron.
However, as the team went through its warmups, it swapped its usual orange and blue for bright pink warm up jerseys to raise awareness for breast cancer. UF's mascot Albert even led the team onto the court sporting a pink hat.
Following two consecutive sweeps on the road, Florida (14-5) went on to defeat Tennessee (10-8) at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center Friday evening in a four-set match.
Tennessee narrowly won the first set after a near-comeback for the Gators towards the end of the set.
The Lady Vols had a strong start in the first set, leading 6-3 after Florida service and attack errors.
Kills from fifth-year outside hitter AC Fitzpatrick, redshirt sophomore setter Alexis Stucky, sophomore outside hitter Kennedy Martin and redshirt senior outside hitter Isabel Martin kept the Gators in the set, driving the score up to 10-9.
A series of Tennessee attack errors and kills from Kennedy Martin and Fitzpatrick prompted a Tennessee timeout after its lead dwindled to 18-15.
After two Florida service errors resulted in a 23-22 lead for Tennessee, the Lady Vols threw down a decisive kill. UF head coach Mary Wise called a timeout after Tennessee jumped out to a 24-22 lead to reach set point.
The timeout wasn’t enough to offset Tennessee’s momentum. Following more back-and-forth action between the two squads, a service error from Stucky and a kill from the Volunteers awarded them the set 27-25.
Set two started out in a similar fashion to the first: Tennessee took the lead, whileFlorida played catch-up.
Freshman setter Taylor Parks took Stucky’s place for the remainder of the match after the latter exited the game midway through the set, starting off with a block. Parks finished the night with 40 assists.
Florida eventually found itself down by a sizable margin, but Kennedy Martin exploded with kills, putting the Gators back in the game.
A block from Fitzpatrick, as well as kills from Isabel Martin, Kennedy Martin and Auguste, brought the Gators to a 20-18 lead. Another kill from Auguste and Martin helped to add on to Florida’s lead.
Tennessee called a timeout in an attempt to stop Florida’s momentum. Off of the timeout, Fitzpatrick immediately worked in a kill.
Florida eventually won the set 25-23 off of a kill from Kennedy Martin, set by Parks.
After going back-and-forth with Tennessee in the previous sets, Florida started the third set off with an early lead.
The Gators started off strong with a 6-3 lead after two Tennessee service errors and kills from Auguste, Isabel Martin and Kennedy Martin.More kills from Isabel Martin, Kennedy Martin, Fitzpatrick and Auguste launched the Gators ahead 18-13.
After two consecutive Kennedy Martin kills and a kill from Auguste, Florida won the third set 25-16.
Kennedy Martin started the fourth set off with a kill, followed by a kill from Fitzpatrick.
Junior libero Emerson Hoyle and fifth-year libero Elli McKissock each served an ace later in the set, while junior middle blocker Amaya Thomas threw down a kill of her own.
In the final point of the match, Parks set the ball for Kennedy Martin, where she spiked it down to push the Gators to a 25-20 set and match win.
Florida will next face Mississippi State at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center Wednesday at 8 p.m.
Contact Shaine Davison at sdavison@alligator.org. Follow her on X @shainedavison.
