Every year, Florida kicks off its season with the Orange and Blue Scrimmage. Before the match starts, coach Mary Wise introduces all of the players to the fans.
For some players, it is their first introduction. For others, it is their last.
“It’s kind of sad that it’s the last one, but we have a really good schedule this year, and I’m really excited to start my senior season,” outside hitter Callie Rivers said. “I think we did really well. We had a lot of fans out, so it was fun to play in front of our fans, and it was nice to play in this atmosphere before going out to Nebraska to play Iowa State.”
At Saturday’s intrasquad scrimmage, in which players switched teams throughout the match, the Blue team won the first three sets 29-27, 25-16 and 25-20 while the Orange team took the shortened fourth set 16-14.
The Orange and Blue Scrimmage might be the only thing guaranteed to this team. An unproven roster will be counted on to continue Florida’s tradition of winning.
With senior Erin Fleming replacing the Southeastern Conference’s all-time digs leader, Elyse Cusack, first-year assistant coach Dave Boos installing a new defense and a schedule that has the Gators facing 10 ranked teams, the beginning of the season can go many ways.
“We’ve focused a lot on our defense the past two weeks,” junior Kristy Jaeckel said. “It’s definitely a little more intricate defense than we’ve run in the past.”
Jaeckel, along with junior Kelly Murphy, was named to the Preseason All-SEC Team.
“Practice makes perfect,” Jaeckel said. “I don’t think we’re gonna be perfect when we go out and play Iowa State next week but it’s gonna be a progression that hopefully by December we’ll be a very strategic defensive team that’s tough to beat. That’s ultimately when we want to be at our best.”
Jaeckel led the Gators with 18 kills Saturday, and sophomore transfer Tangerine Wiggs finished second with 15. Murphy tallied a team-high 29 assists and Rivers logged 11 digs.
“The reoccurring theme with this group will be that it’s a work in progress because there are so many new systems that are being introduced to them, and we certainly don’t have them down yet,” Wise said. “We continue to get some wrong people in the wrong places, but, in time, we think we can be a team that will be really hard to score on.”
Although there were many times the crowd cheered for a diving dig or a great spike, there were also multiple times when a ball dropped in between two players because of miscommunication.
“There’s nothing we can do in practice to simulate this game-type atmosphere when you’re doing it with the lights on and the fans in the stands,” Wise said. “It’s the perfect way to introduce the team and for us to get better. “
The 2009 season marked the first time Wise, entering her 20th season as the coach of the Gators, did not win the SEC Championship.
