Junior setter Angie McGinnis (Fraser, Mich.) notched the second triple-double in school history with 56 assists, 11 digs and 10 kills in leading No. 5 Florida past No. 24 Utah 3-1 (30-25, 32-35, 32-30, 30-26) before a crowd of 2,171 Saturday night at the Aquafina Invitational at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center.

The Gators (2-0) out-paced the strong serving and blocking of Utah (1-1) as UF hit .232 to .199 for the Utes. Florida finished with more kills (79-66) and digs (84-79), while getting out-blocked 16.0-13.0.

“”There was some pretty exciting volleyball out there tonight,” Wise said. “I’m not sure if it was the cleanest volleyball. But for a team that is a work in progress, for us to beat a good blocking and serving team like Utah this early in the season is huge.”

McGinnis, who recorded the first triple-double in school history as a sophomore in 2005, was also named the tournament’s MVP.

“It’s pretty cool, though it didn’t seem like I had that many kills,” McGinnis said. “The triple-double helped us out tonight, but everybody else on our team was amazing.”

Junior outside hitter Marcie Hampton (Gainesville, Fla.) earned a nod to the All-Tournament team after recording a career-best 25 kills, while also adding 16 digs. Freshman libero Elyse Cusack (Melrose, Fla.) also earned All-Tournament team honors after finishing with a match-high 26 digs.

Four Gators finished in double figures in kills during the match with junior Kisya Killingsworth (Deltona, Fla.) adding 13 kills and sophomore middle blocker Kelsey Bowers (Gainesville, Fla.) chipping in with 10. Killingsworth also finished with a team-high five blocks.

The Gators won their 18^th consecutive match in regular season home tournaments and ended the Aquafina Invitational with a 2-0 record. That marked the 19^th time in 24 tries that the Gators have gone undefeated in regular season home tournaments in Wise’s 15-plus seasons as head coach.

The Utes stormed out of the gates in the opening game before an 8-1 run in the early stages gave the Gators control and they never relinquished the lead in a 30-25 win. Utah notched the first four points of the game before the Gators rallied with an 8-1 run to move ahead 8-5. Killingsworth notched a pair of kills to lead UF during the stretch. The Utes fought back within one at 8-7, but the Gators answered with three straight to extend their advantage to 11-7. Utah came as close as three points at 21-18, but following a Gator timeout, UF scored five out of six points to end the threat. Florida out-hit Utah .214-.167 in the game with Hampton leading all players with five kills. Freshman defensive specialist Alli Cecchini (Brentwood, Calif.) chipped in with a game-high five digs.

The second game was a battle to the end in which the Gators fell behind by as many six points before coming back to take the lead late in the frame, but the Utes were the victors 35-33. Utah again began the game strong in moving out to an early 10-6 advantage before extending that to 18-12. The Gators mounted a comeback by notching three straight points to narrow the gap to three at 18-15 after a kill from freshman middle blocker Kristina Johnson (Indianapolis, Ind.). Utah pushed its lead back to five at 20-15 before Florida again fought back within three at 20-17. After a Utah point, the Gators put the next four on the scoreboard to tie the game at 21-21 following a Hampton kill from the left side. What ensued from there was a see-saw affair in which the lead changed hands five times before Utah pulled out the win. Florida had one game-point chance at 32-31, but the Utes rallied to notch four of the final five points. UF managed to out-hit Utah .346-.333, but the Utes out-dug the Gators 25-16 and had more kills (24-20). Hampton and junior opposite hitter Amber McCray (Longview, Texas) each had recorded five kills to lead UF, while Cusack picked up a game-high eight digs.

Game three was another close battle with Utah fighting off two game points before UF secured a 32-30 win. Florida streaked out to a 10-4 advantage after a service error from the Utes. After Utah answered with a pair of points, the Gators scored eight straight to surge ahead 18-6. Sophomore defensive specialist Christina Diaz (Hollywood, Fla.) provided strong serving during the run, which included three kills each from Hampton and Bowers. Utah refused to go away and responded with a 7-0 run of their own to close the gap to 19-14. The Utes slowly crept closer, coming within two at 23-21. After a kill from Hampton made it 24-21, Utah put the next five points on the board to move on top 26-24. Later down 28-25, Florida stormed back with four consecutive points on two Utah errors, a Bowers ace and a solo block from Killingsworth. Utah fended off one game point to tie it at 29-29 before senior outside hitter Stefanie Douglas (Belton, Texas) provided a kill from the left side. The Utes again tied things at 30-30 before Killingsworth put down a ball in the middle and Douglas ended the game with a kill on an overpass. The statistics were close with Florida out-hitting Utah .175-.174 and notching 20 digs to 19 for the Utes. Hampton paced all players with eight kills in the game, while Cusack added a game-high seven digs.

In the fourth game, Florida used an 8-1 run midway through to gain an early advantage before fighting off a late Utah rally in a 30-26 win. With the score 6-5 and the Gators in front, UF mounted an 8-1 run to boost its advantage to 14-6. Hampton guided the Florida attack during the stretch with four kills. Utah remained within striking distance even after the Gators went on top 20-12. The Utes came as close as two at 24-22, but Florida responded with three straight points to move ahead 27-22 before McCray ended the match with a kill from the right side. Hampton led all players with seven kills in the game on .667 hitting and also finished with a game-high eight digs.

Florida returns to action next weekend for the Hawaiian Airlines Wahine Classic in Honolulu. The Gators will face No. 7 Hawai’i at 1 a.m. (ET) on Sept. 2, No. 10 UCLA at 10:30 p.m. (ET) on Sept. 2 and Colorado at 8:30 p.m. (ET) on Sept. 3.

The contest against Hawai’i can be seen live online for $9.95 at www.hawaiiantelmedia.com. The Hawai’i match and the contest against Colorado will both be carried live on WRUF-AM 850 and www.GatorZone.com. The radio carrier for UCLA is still to be determined, but it will be broadcast live on www.GatorZone.com.

Arkansas State 3, South Florida 1

In what turned out to be a consolation match of the Aquafina Invitational, Arkansas State (1-1) defeated South Florida (0-2) in four games (30-28, 25-30, 30-26, 30-25).

The Indians out-hit USF .245-.201 and ended the contest with fewer kills (58-66) and points (71.0-72.0), but finished with fewer attack errors (21-35). Arkansas State also tallied 6.0 blocks to USF’s 1.0.

Randilyne Volkmer paced Arkansas State with 17 kills and tied for the team lead with eight digs in being named to the All-Tournament Team.

Marcela Gurgel led the Bulls with 24 kills on .250 hitting, while adding 12 digs and was also named to the All-Tournament Team.

Aquafina Invitational All-Tournament Team

Angie McGinnis, Florida (MVP)

Elyse Cusack, Florida

Marcie Hampton, Florida

Airial Salvo, Utah

Emillie Toone, Utah

Randilyne Volkmer, Arkansas State

Marcela Gurgei, South Florida