Sunday August 29, 2010No. 13 Gators Win Five-Set Thriller Against Second-Ranked Nebraska
Omaha, NE
Omaha, NE
Junior
Florida right-side/setter Kelly Murphy (Wilmington, Ill.) was nearly
unstoppable on Sunday, turning in her 16th career triple-double to lead the No.
13 Gators to a 3-2 (25-22, 25-22, 29-31, 13-25, 15-12) upset of No. 2 Nebraska
at the prestigious Runza/AVCA Showcase in the Qwest
Center.
The
Gators (2-0) posted their first victory against a top-two ranked team since
defeating No. 2 Hawaii in the 2003 NCAA Championship Semifinals. With the win,
Florida closes the weekend with two wins against top-10 squads, after knocking
off No. 9 Iowa State on Saturday afternoon.
“The
AVCA Showcase delivered,” Florida head coach Mary Wise said. “It has a
history of great matches, and hopefully this one today will go down in that
group. We felt like to beat Nebraska in this state, we
would have to match the intensity level of not only the six players on the
court, but also of the Husker fans. This team really did a great job of that today.”
Murphy
tied her career high with 20 kills on .514 hitting with 23 assists, 10 digs and
three blocks. Junior outside hitter Kristy Jaeckel
(Littleton, Colo.) charted her first double-double of the 2010 season with
12 kills and a career-high 15 digs to go along with five blocks. Senior outside
hitter Callie Rivers (Winter Park, Fla.) added 12 kills on .300 hitting
with three service aces and seven digs.
“I
think we did a really good job of staying calm and not getting wrapped up in
the atmosphere,” Murphy said. “We knew that we had a chance to work hard if we
worked hard and stayed focused.”
Freshman
setter Chanel Brown (Tempe, Ariz.) dished out a career-high 31 assists,
while sophomore right-side Tangerine Wiggs (Seattle,
Wash.) added seven kills and four blocks. Senior middle blocker Lauren
Bledsoe (Long Beach, Calif.) chipped in six kills and seven blocks, while
junior middle blocker Cassandra Anderson (Bakersfield, Calif.) also had
six kills with five blocks.
Bledsoe,
Murphy and Rivers all were named to the AVCA Showcase All-Tournament Team.
The
Gators raced out to a quick 5-0 lead to open the first set, using four kills
and a Fleming ace to stake to that advantage. Three kills on
the next four plays by Nebraska cut Florida’s lead to three, 6-3. The
two teams traded points until the Gators ran off three in a row, powered by a
block solo from Jaeckel and a Murphy ace to extend
Florida’s advantage to five, 11-6. The Gators kept rolling to a 15-9 edge
following a Jaeckel kill and an attack error by the
Huskers. Nebraska ended UF’s scoring spree with two consecutive points before a
resounding block on the right by Anderson and Wiggs
sent the Gators into a timeout up 16-11.
With
Florida ahead 17-13, a kill by Murphy and two
consecutive aces from Rivers widened the Gators’ margin to seven, 20-13. Three
kills in a row by the Huskers brought them within four, 21-16, forcing Wise to
burn a timeout. From there, Nebraska scored three of the next four points to
come as close as three, 22-19. After trading points, back-to-back put-downs by
Nebraska’s Lindsey Licht and Brooke Delano brought
the Huskers within two, 23-21. A kill by Jaeckel on
the outside brought UF to set point at 24-21 before a Wiggs
kill gave the Gators a 25-22 opening-set win. Florida hit .353 in the opening
set, recording four service aces and three total team blocks.
Nebraska
scored the first three points of the second set before three consecutive
Florida kills, including two from Anderson, knotted the score at 3-all. The
Huskers responded with three kills in a row before Florida used a 5-0 run to
jump in front 8-6. Out of a timeout, Nebraska ran off five consecutive points
to reclaim the lead at 11-8 after a block solo by Licht.
Murphy registered a kill and then teamed with Bledsoe on the next play for a
block to bring the Gators within one, 11-10. After the squads traded points, a
block by Bledsoe and Wiggs on the right side tied the
score at 12-12. Following another tie at 13, Jaeckel rocketed an ace down the middle of the court to give Florida
back the lead at 14-13.
Rivers
and Bledsoe followed suit with back-to-back kills to put the Gators up 16-13.
Up 16-14, Florida ran off three points in a row, including two blocks and a Wiggs kill to go ahead 18-14. The squads exchanged points
before back-to-back kills by Delano and Licht cut
Nebraska’s deficit to three, 21-18, heading into a UF timeout. Out of the
break, a Tara Mueller kill sparked a 3-0 run by the Huskers to tie the score at
21-21. Two kills in three plays by Murphy, coupled with a Nebraska attack error
brought the Gators to set point at 24-22. A kill by Wiggs
off the block on the right side gave Florida a 25-22 second-set victory. The
Gators had six blocks in the second frame.
Florida
and Nebraska battled evenly to begin the third set before the Huskers took a
5-3 advantage after a kill by Allison McNeal and Murphy’s first attack error of
the match. With the Gators trailing 6-3, Florida used a 4-0 run aided by three
Nebraska attack errors, to take a 7-6 lead that forced Huskers head coach John
Cook to burn a timeout. Following eight ties, a Murphy service error and a kill
by the Huskers’ Morgan Broekhuis gave Nebraska a
16-14 edge. The Huskers kept rolling to an 18-15 lead before a Bledsoe kill and
an attack error from the Huskers brought UF within one, 18-17. The Gators were
able to knot the score at 19-all following a block by Anderson and Rivers. Two
kills in a row by Nebraska sent the Huskers ahead
21-19, causing Wise to burn a timeout. Out of the break, a Rivers kill on the
outside and a back-row blocking call against the Huskers tied the score at
21-all.
From
there, Nebraska ran off two kills in a row to go up 23-21. A resounding Murphy
kill and a four-hits call on the Huskers tied the
score at 23. Bledsoe and Jaeckel posted a block to
bring UF to match point, but Nebraska staved off that attempt and again knotted
the score, this time at 24-all. A Murphy attack error gave Nebraska a set point
at 25-24 before a Jaeckel kill tied the score at 25.
Another Jaeckel kill, this one off the block, put
Florida ahead 26-25, but the Huskers staved off
another attempt at the match. The two teams continued battling but Nebraska
broke a 29-all tie with two consecutive points, including a set-winning kill by
Mueller on the outside to take a 31-29 third-set victory.
The
two squads battled closely to start the fourth set before Nebraska took an
early 8-4 advantage heading into a timeout. With Florida behind 9-4, Bledsoe
and Wiggs recorded back-to-back kills to spark a 3-0
run and bring the Gators within two, 9-7. From there, behind the strong serving
of Mueller, Nebraska ran off seven consecutive points to take a 16-7 lead into
a timeout. The Huskers lead 18-7 before a Rivers kill stopped Nebraska’s
scoring spree. Nebraska had little trouble in closing out a 25-13 fourth-set
win.
The
Huskers scored the first three points of the deciding fifth set before the
Gators rallied to knot the score at 3-3, including two put-downs from Jaeckel during that stretch. A kill by Nebraska’s Hannah Werth and an illegal rotation call
against Florida allowed the Huskers to reclaim the lead at 5-3. The two teams
began trading points before a Wiggs kill and an
attack error by NU’s Licht knotted the score at
7-all. Three Nebraska kills allowed the Huskers to go up 10-7 heading into a
timeout by the Gators. With Florida down, 11-7, Rivers charted back-to-back
kills to bring UF within 11-9, forcing Cook to use a timeout. Three consecutive
Nebraska attack errors allowed the Gators to claim their first lead of the set
at 12-11. With Florida up 13-12, Murphy recorded a kill and then the Gators
closed out the match with by Anderson and Murphy.
Nebraska
(1-1) was led by 18 kills on .464 hitting by Lindsey Licht.
Florida
returns to action on Friday when it plays host to the Campus USA Credit Union
Invitational. The Gators will face Albany at 12:30 p.m. ET in the Stephen C.
O’Connell Center and the match will be carried live on GatorZone.com with Cory
Stephens.
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