Senior middle blocker Kisya
Killingsworth (Deltona, Fla.) recorded 12 kills on .375 hitting to lead the
sixth-ranked University of Florida volleyball team to a 3-0 (30-16, 30-25,
30-19) victory over Auburn on Sunday at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center.
Killingsworth also added three block assists on her way to a
match-high 13.5 points, while senior opposite hitter Amber McCray (Longview, Texas) chipped with 10 kills on a .421
hitting efficiency. Both players reached double-figure kill totals for the
fourth-consecutive match.
Sophomore libero/defensive specialist Elyse Cusack (Melrose,
Fla.) tied for match-high
honors with 13 digs, while also adding five assists.
“We played very well in several aspects of the game today,” Florida head coach Mary Wise said. “Elyse Cusack looked
like the game was in slow motion for her today, and
that starts a ripple effect for our hitters. We were able to score some
big-time points with our attack, and anytime you can get three blocks a game,
you know the defense is playing well.”
Florida recorded 9.5 team blocks on the afternoon, led by four block assists
each from sophomore middle blocker Kristina
Johnson (Indianapolis, Ind.)
and senior setter Angie McGinnis (Fraser, Mich.).
Two days after posting the fourth triple-double in school history, McGinnis
also added a match-high 35 assists, six kills and four digs.
Senior outside hitter Marcie
Hampton (Gainesville, Fla.) had nine kills on the day, moving
into sole possession of ninth place on the school’s career chart. She also
chipped in with eight digs and three block assists to
finish the day with 10.5 points.
The teams traded the first eight points of the match, with UF getting
kills from Killingsworth, McGinnis and Johnson, before a pair of Auburn errors
and a kill by redshirt freshman outside hitter Janine Williams (Gainesville,
Fla.) opened up a 7-4 lead
for the Gators. UF continued to increase its lead with Williams on serve, as
she ripped off a 9-0 run behind the line to finish off a 10-0 Florida stretch
that made the score 14-4. Johnson was in the middle of things as Florida’s lead continued
to grow, posting a kill and a block assist to help the Gators run out to a
13-point lead at 19-6. Consecutive kills by McCray prompted AU to ask for
another timeout with the score 22-8, but couldn’t draw closer than 13 points as
the Gators closed out the game-one win, 30-16. McGinnis and Killingsworth each
tallied three kills to lead an offensive attack that hit .351 in the frame,
while Killingsworth and Hampton added two blocks apiece to help limit the
Tigers to -.049 hitting in game one.
UF found itself down 6-3 early in the second stanza, but kills by
freshman outside hitter Callie Rivers (Winter Park, Fla.)
and Killingsworth brought the Gators back within one. Auburn,
however, was able to jump back out to a three-point lead, 9-6, before an AU
service error and a block assist by Hampton and
McGinnis again pulled the Orange
and Blue within a point at 9-8. A pair of Hampton
kills and an Auburn error tied the match at 11-11,
but the Tigers responded with another 3-0 run to make the tally 14-11. Johnson
got the Gators going again with a pair of kills, and a kill by Hampton tied the score at 16-16 before an
attack error on the visitors gave UF a 17-16 lead, its first since the game was
1-0. McGinnis and Johnson combined on back-to-back blocks to increase Florida’s lead to 22-18 and force Auburn
head coach Laura Farina to ask for her first timeout of the game. Auburn wasn’t able to get
any closer than four, however, as a pair of kills from both McGinnis and
Williams propelled UF to a 30-25 victory. McCray paced Florida with four kills in the game, while
McGinnis, Hampton and Killingsworth each had three. The Gators had nearly as
many digs, 18, as they did kills, 19, in the game, limiting Auburn to a .158 hitting efficiency.
Florida came flying out of the intermission, running out
to a 7-1 lead in game three behind a trio of McCray kills. Killingsworth added
two kills of her own and Williams ripped her second ace of the match as the
Gators extended their edge to 13-5. Florida continued
to build its lead, with freshman opposite hitter Lauren Bledsoe (Long Beach,
Calif.) chipping in with a
kill and a block assist as the margin grew to 11 points, 21-10. Killingsworth
helped seal the match for UF with three kills down the stretch, and Hampton fired a kill off the Auburn
block to put the lid on the game and the match with a game-three score of
30-19. Killingsworth and Hampton combined for 11 of UF’s 18 kills in the
decisive frame, sparking the Gators to a .316 hitting percentage. Cusack turned
in five digs in the third stanza, and Florida
held AU to a .000 efficiency rating for the game.
UF hits the court again on Friday night, traveling to Oxford,
Miss., for a bout with Mississippi at 8 p.m. EST. The action can be
heard on WRUF-AM 850, as well as www.GatorZone.com.
GatorVision Online subscribers will also be able to view streaming video of the
contest live on the Internet courtesy of the University of Mississippi.
- UF -
