Senior outside hitter Marcie Hampton (Gainesville, Fla.) recorded her 14th double-double of the season on Sunday to lead the eighth-ranked University of Florida volleyball team to a 3-0 (30-28, 30-19, 30-22) win over Kentucky at Memorial Coliseum.

The win is UF’s eighth-consecutive win, and also marks the Gators’ seventh sweep in a row. They are now just one win away from extending the nation’s longest streak of 25-win seasons to 17.

“This is one of the hardest places in the conference to win as a visiting team, and I’m excited about the way we played today,” Florida head coach Mary Wise said. “Our experience and competitiveness really showed today, and I’m proud of the way our seniors stepped up. This is the way we want to play at the end of the season.”

Hampton notched a match-high 17 kills on .421 hitting to pace a Gator attack that hit .340 as a team and saw three of its members record double-figure kill totals. Senior middle blocker Kisya Killingsworth (Deltona, Fla.) and junior middle blocker Kelsey Bowers (Gainesville, Fla.) each had 10 kills in the match, while freshman outside hitter Callie Rivers (Winter Park, Fla.) finished with nine to narrowly miss joining them in double digits.

Senior setter Angie McGinnis (Fraser, Mich.) handed out 50 assists to guide Florida (24-1, 17-1 Southeastern Conference) to its fourth-consecutive match with a hitting percentage better than .300.

Hampton completed her double-double with a match-high 19 digs, tying her season high and falling just three shy of her career best. Sophomore libero/defensive specialist Elyse Cusack (Melrose, Fla.) chipped in with 15 digs to run her school-record streak of double-figure performances to 29, and McGinnis and Rivers both posted nine on the afternoon as Florida won the digs battle by a count of 63-58.

The Gators also out-blocked UK on Sunday, finishing with a 7.0-3.0 edge behind three apiece from Bowers, Hampton and Killingsworth. Rivers finished with two blocks on the afternoon, including the Gators’ only solo rejection.

UF jumped out to a 5-3 lead early in game one courtesy of kills by Killingsworth and Rivers, but Kentucky battled back to tie the score at 5-5. The teams traded points until UK was able to open up an 11-9 lead, but a pair of kills by senior opposite hitter Amber McCray (Longview, Texas) and one by Rivers brought the Gators back to a 12-12 tie. Consecutive kills by Bowers allowed Florida to grab a 14-13 lead, and a kill by McGinnis just minutes later put UF on top by a score of 18-15 and forced the Wildcats to burn their first timeout. Killingsworth put down a kill out of the break to make the score 19-15, and after Kentucky had battled back to within two, she responded with her third of the afternoon to help the Gators hold a 20-17 margin. Kills on consecutive rallies by Hampton and Killingsworth, respectively, sparked Florida to a 22-18 lead, but Kentucky was once again able to battle back and tie the score at 24-24. Rivers and Hampton came up with kills on back-to-back rallies to push UF to a 26-24 advantage and force a UK timeout, but Bowers and Hampton teamed up on a block on the first rally after the stoppage to keep Florida’s momentum intact and increase the lead to 27-24. A UK attack error forced game point for the Gators at 29-27, and Hampton capped the game-one win, 30-28, two rallies later with her game-high sixth kill. Cusack posted seven digs in the opener to lead a Florida defensive effort that held UK to .135 hitting.

The Gators found themselves down 4-2 early in the second game, but kills by Rivers and McCray helped them storm back to take a 6-5 lead. Three-straight kills by Bowers, Hampton and Killingsworth pushed the lead to 10-7, and McGinnis made it four kills in a row for Florida on the next rally to put UF up, 11-7, and force a UK timeout. A block assist by Hampton and Killingsworth sparked a 4-1 Florida run that stretched the lead to 15-9, but Kentucky rallied to within two points at 16-14. After a Florida timeout, McCray and Bowers double-teamed a block and Rivers fired a kill to run the score to 18-14, and the Wildcats were forced to burn their final timeout of the frame when a block assist by Hampton and Bowers increased UF’s lead to 20-15. The Gators captured the first five points after the stoppage, highlighted by a Rivers ace, to take a 25-15 lead. Hampton and Killingsworth each recorded a pair of kills down the stretch before Rivers sealed game two, 30-19, for the Gators, who closed the frame on a 14-5 run. Hampton, Killingsworth and Rivers each had five kills on a combined 34 swings in the game to pace Florida to a .348 team hitting percentage, while 4.0 team blocks limited Kentucky to just .104 hitting. Hampton had 11 kills and 11 digs to her credit after the second stanza, marking the second-straight match that she needed only two game to record a double-double.

UF took a 3-0 lead in game three on kills by Hampton, Killingsworth and McCray, and kills by Bowers and McGinnis helped increase the lead to 9-3 before Kentucky head coach Craig Skinner called for his first timeout of the game. The Gators took the first two points after the break on the strength of another McGinnis kill, and a double block by Hampton and Killingsworth extended the margin to 13-4. A pair of kills by McCray increased Florida’s lead to 17-9, and a Bowers kill sent UF to the 20-point mark in front by eight. The Orange and Blue led by a count of 22-13 when the Wildcats called their second timeout of the game, and the lead reached 10 points at 23-13 by way of a UK attack error on the first series after the stoppage. Rivers registered a block solo to make the score 27-18 in Florida’s favor, and a Bowers kill set up match point at 29-20 before Hampton delivered the decisive point at 30-22.

Florida will hit the court again on Friday, when it returns home to face Alabama at 7 p.m. ET. Radio coverage of the match can be found on WRUF-AM 850, as well as www.GatorZone.com, and GatorVision Online subscribers will be able to view the match live.

- UF –