Florida defended its undefeated streak against Alabama in the O’Connell Center on Sunday afternoon, adding win No. 38 to its all-time series against the Crimson Tide.
The No. 5 Gators (24-3, 13-2 Southeastern Conference) swept the Crimson Tide (21-8, 8-6 SEC), 25-21, 25-23, 25-17.
After being swept by No. 7 Missouri at home Friday, Florida came out strong and took the first set.
“We talked a lot on Saturday about if we could turn back time what we would do and the spots that were really close and a lot of us just answered being aggressive,” Gabby Mallette said. “So today I think as a team … a lot of us were taking risks and being more aggressive.”
Alabama made a three-point run and held the Gators scoreless to tie the second set at 15-15. But then, Gators took control and eventually got their match point in the second set off an attack error by Alabama’s Laura Steiner.
Florida’s senior middle blocker Chloe Mann showed some inconsistency this weekend. After an errorless game against Missouri on Friday where she notched 16 kills and zero attack errors, Mann made six kills and four attack errors on Sunday.
Mallette, a sophomore outside hitter, led Florida’s attack with 11 kills, one error and a .500 hitting percentage.
After a home weekend with two double-digit service errors — an improved three aces and 10 errors compared to Friday’s one ace and 11 errors — coach Mary Wise attributed these stats to necessary risks.
“There is a cost benefit to serving,” Wise said. “There was a point there where they were passing lights out and we felt we had to take some risks and if you take some risks you’re going to get some service errors. If you’re just willing to live with the easy serve it’s going to go pass-set-kill so service errors are part of the game.”
On the other hand, Florida found its footing when it came to blocking. The Gators clocked a total of 10 team blocks and five individual blocks, which included sophomore outside hitter Ziva Recek’s two stuff blocks.
“I told the team after the second set we had more blocks in the second set than sometimes we’ve had in an entire match,” Wise said.
For the first of Florida’s final three matches of the season, it hits the road for a midweek matchup against Tennessee on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. UT currently sits at the bottom of the conference rankings with only one SEC win so far this season.
“What’s unusual is to go back-to-back Wednesdays,” Wise said. “The Wednesday makes it tough.”
Follow Erica A. Hernandez on Twitter @EricaAlyssa.
Redshirt senior middle blocker Chloe Mann swings during the Gators' 3-0 loss to the Tigers on Nov. 15, 2013, in the O'Connell Center. Mann paced the Gators with a .506 hitting percentage in 2013 en route to becoming the NCAA career hitting percentage leader with her .476 clip.
