Senior setter Angie McGinnis (Fraser, Mich.) posted the fourth triple-double in school history on Friday night to lead the sixth-ranked University of Florida volleyball team to a 3-1 (22-30, 30-24, 30-20, 30-16) win over Georgia in front of 3,764 fans at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center. The win opened the Southeastern Conference slate for the Gators, marking the 17th year in a row that they have opened league play with a win.

The only player in Florida history ever to record a triple-double, McGinnis handed out a match-high 46 assists to go with a career-best 11 kills and 15 digs, marking the fourth of her career. She also added an ace and four block assists to the Florida effort, and finished the match with a career-high 14.0 points.

“Georgia is a much improved team, and it took everything we had to get the win out there tonight,” Florida head coach Mary Wise said. “Starting slow on our home court is a concern, and something that we will have to address. Though she didn’t hit for as high of a percentage as she would have liked, Angie McGinnis really led us to this win with outstanding all-around play.”

UF (8-0) improved to 42-0 against Georgia during Wise’s tenure, and improved its winning streak in SEC regular-season matches at home to 18 contests. The Orange and Blue tallied 14.0 blocks as a team, reaching double figures for the fourth match in a row, while holding UGA (9-2) to .127 hitting percentage. Florida’s defensive effort held the Bulldogs’ Maria Taylor, the SEC leader in kills per game heading into the match with an average of 5.39, to just 10 kills and an efficiency rating of -.065.

Senior outside hitter Marcie Hampton (Gainesville, Fla.) posted the 32nd double-double of her career in the victory, tallying 15 kills and 19 digs, while tying her personal-best with five assists. Hampton’s dig total moved her past former UF great Meg (Fitzgerald) Colado for sixth on the school’s career list, as she concluded the match with 1,172 to her credit.

Senior middle blocker Kisya Killingsworth (Deltona, Fla.) reached double figures in kills for the third-straight match with 11 on the night, while senior opposite hitter Amber McCray (Longview, Texas) turned in 15 against the Bulldogs to break the double-digit mark for the second match in a row. Killingsworth added seven blocks assists on the night, while sophomore middle blocker Kristina Johnson (Indianapolis, Ind.) chipped in with five. Sophomore libero/defensive specialist Elyse Cusack (Melrose, Fla.) collected 21 digs in the win, marking her second-consecutive match, and the 10th of her career, with at least 20.

Down 11-4 early in game one, a double block by senior setter Angie McGinnis (Fraser, Mich.) and senior middle blocker Kisya Killingsworth (Deltona, Fla.) ignited a brief UF rally. Killingsworth slammed a kill down the middle to make the score 13-8, but UGA took eight of the next 12 points to re-extend its lead to nine points, 21-12, and force a Florida timeout. The Gators cut the deficit to as few as seven, but couldn’t draw closer and dropped the opening game, 30-22. Killingsworth had four kills in the frame, while senior outside hitter Marcie Hampton (Gainesville, Fla.), senior opposite hitter Amber McCray (Longview, Texas) and sophomore middle blocker Kristina Johnson (Indianapolis, Ind.) added three apiece.

The Gators faced an early 5-1 deficit in game two, but kills from each of UF’s four seniors and a pair from redshirt freshman outside hitter Janine Williams (Gainesville, Fla.) helped them storm back to tie the frame at 9-9. The squads traded the next four points before the Bulldogs collected three-straight points to take a 14-11 edge. Hampton ripped a kill down the right line on the next rally to cut the lead to two, then proceeded to serve the Gators to back-to-back points to tie the match, 14-14. UF ran out to a 19-16 lead on kills by McCray, McGinnis and Williams, and forced Georgia to call a timeout four points later after freshman defensive specialist Erin Fleming (Orlando, Fla.) found open space with a serve to make the score 22-17 in the Gators’ favor. Sophomore libero/defensive specialist Elyse Cusack (Melrose, Fla.) came out of the break with a kill to make the tally 23-17, sparking Florida on a 4-1 run after the break that culminated in a block assist by Hampton and junior middle blocker Kelsey Bowers (Gainesville, Fla.) to make the score 26-18. Georgia fought back to within three points, 26-23, but UF took six of the next seven points, capping the game on back-to-back block assists and equaling the match by a score of 30-24. The Gators limited Georgia to .049 hitting in the game, while collecting 5.0 team blocks. McCray notched three kills and three block assists in the frame, and Hampton and McGinnis both paced the team with four kills.

Florida jumped out to a 6-3 lead in game three on the strength of three-straight kills by McCray, but the majority of play was even-handed in the early going of the stanza, and the score eventually tied at 10-10. With UF up just one, 17-16, Hampton ended a long rally with a kill off of UGA hands to start a 4-0 Florida run and prompt the Bulldogs to use their first timeout of game three. Georgia took the first two points out the break, but Hampton ended the rally with yet another kill off the opposing block and McCray followed with a kill of her own to push the lead to five, 23-18. UGA burned its final timeout of the game minutes later after watching Killingsworth and Williams team up for a block that put UF up by a half dozen points, 25-19. A block assist by McGinnis and Killingsworth capped a game-ending 5-1 run and gave the Gators a 2-1 advantage in the match. The Orange and Blue hit .342 in the game, led by five kills on a .625 rating by McCray.

Florida’s four seniors combined to record the team’s first seven kills in the fourth game, propelling the Gators to an early 9-7 lead. Johnson got the underclassmen on the board with a kill to push the lead to 12-9, but McCray responded with another kill of her own to make the score 14-10 in the Gators’ favor. After a UGA timeout, McCray picked up another two kills as the Gators increased their margin to seven points, 19-12. After Georgia crept back within five, Williams and Killingsworth collected kills, and Killingsworth teamed with Hampton on a block, to run the lead out to 24-15 and force UGA to call for its second stoppage of the game. UF closed out the game and the match on a 6-1 run to capture its 17th-straight SEC opener, 3-1.

The Gators will wrap up the opening weekend of SEC play against Auburn on Sunday at the O’Connell Center. Action is slated to begin at 1:30 p.m. EST, and the call can be heard on WRUF-AM 850, as well as www.GatorZone.com. GatorVision Online subscribers can also view the match live via the Internet.

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