About five-and-a-half hours after Madison Monserez arrived back in Gainesville, she was in class. A few hours later, she was gearing up for practice on what is typically an off day for the Gators’ volleyball team.
“This week we’re a little pressed for time,” Monserez said.
Florida arrived home from a weekend road trip Monday at 3 a.m. and barely had time to catch a breath until a much-needed day off Thursday.
After having one day to recover from a hectic, six-day stretch that saw the Gators play three games in three different states, UF (16-3, 9-1 Southeastern Conference) begins its preparations today for a Sunday afternoon showdown at home against Mississippi State (10-9, 5-5 SEC).
“The most important thing right now is that these players have the day off tomorrow,” Florida coach Mary Wise said after Wednesday night’s game at South Carolina.
“Fatigue has really set in. We’re at the halfway point of the season. It’s going to happen.”
In the middle of its most dominant stretch since 2009, Florida has won 21 consecutive sets during a seven-game winning streak.
But in Wednesday’s third set, the Gators showed their first real signs of weakness during the past seven games.
Entering the third set hitting .566 with just two attack errors on 57 swings, the fatigue that comes with being in the midst of a 10-game span, including seven road matches, finally sent in for Florida.
With 41 swings in the third set, the Gators committed seven attack errors and hit .195, their lowest single-set hitting percentage since a .167 clip in the first set of a Sept. 30 match with Auburn.
“Fatigue was the No. 1 factor there,” Wise said. “Our players are absolutely gassed from the travel.”
Earlier in the week, redshirt freshman libero Taylor Unroe was admittedly affected by the travel despite her dig numbers being as consistently high as they have been all season. But she also said working through fatigue can benefit a team.
“It’s pretty rough, but it’ll be good for us to have that turnaround really quick and having to deal with that team very quickly,” Unroe said.
“It’s good to practice when we’re tired and work through that.”
Because of the rare midweek game that was in place due to an ESPNU broadcast, the Gators will have their first Friday night off of the 2011 season before the Bulldogs arrive in Gainesville.
“The hard thing about this week is going to be mental focus,” Monserez said. “We really need to focus on everything we need to do.”
