Florida volleyball looks to stay unbeaten in Southeastern Conference play when it takes on Alabama (19-5, 7-3 SEC) tonight at 7 in the O’Connell Center.
After beating Tennessee in a 3-0 sweep on Sunday, Florida (18-3, 12-0 SEC) continued as the only team in SEC play with no losses.
Coach Mary Wise credits Florida’s success to a strong back row, which is maintained by seniors Holly Pole, Maddie Monserez and Taylor Unroe.
"Dave (Boos) always calls us the veterans, that we’re trying to help the younger players and stuff," Pole said. "But it’s nice, we can help out the front row players a lot more than we have in the past. We know our positions but we also know other people’s positions."
Pole, now Florida’s go-to libero, was named SEC Defensive Player of the Week after picking up 17 digs and two service aces against Tennessee.
Florida will have to continue its dominance on defense if it wants to stay unbeaten against Alabama. The Gators hold a 39-0 record against the Crimson Tide and are 37-0 under Wise.
Alabama is the biggest offensive threat in conference play that Florida will play until it faces Kentucky on Nov. 16.
The Crimson Tide have two of the best right side and opposite hitters in the conference in Krystal Rivers and Kat Hutson.
Rivers is ranked second in the SEC and Hutson sits behind Rivers in fourth for kills per set.
Rivers spent her offseason battling Hodgkins Lymphoma, a cancer that affects the lymph nodes, and has returned to Alabama to lead the team in kills (394) and service aces (32).
Hutson, a 6-foot-3 freshman, will be the player to watch in a matchup against Florida’s 6-foot-4 middle blocker Rhamat Alhassan, who has had little trouble blocking other teams smaller outside hitters.
Though Hutson is a freshman, she is doing well enough to sit second to Rivers in kills for the season with 333 and is fourth in the conference in kills per set (3.74).
"As we move to this part of the season and the quality of teams that we have left on the regular season, you know we’re playing teams that are bigger, more physical, play higher above the net, serve tougher, hit harder, that’s what happens when you play experienced, physical teams," Wise said.
"And we got a bunch of those left on the schedule. So we’ll have plenty of opportunities to improve because of the high quality of teams we still have left to play."
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Libero Holly Pole (30) prepares to dig a ball during Florida's 3-0 win against Missouri in the O'Connell Center.
