The Florida volleyball team was part of a unique opportunity on Wednesday evening, as members of the 2012 team scrimmaged against Gator volleyball alumni at the L. Gale Lemerand Center. Among the alumni participating were Cassandra Anderson (Bakersfield, Calif.), Lauren Bledsoe (Long Beach, Calif.), Kristy Jaeckel (Littleton, Colo.), Benavia Jenkins (Fort Pierce, Fla.) and Kelly Murphy (Wilmington, Ill.).

The scrimmage was a tightly contested matchup, as the current Florida volleyball team defeated the alumni, 3-2 (22-25, 25-12, 19-25, 25-21, 15-10).

“Of course it’s always awesome to come back home and play again,” former Gator All-American Jenkins said. “These girls (the current team) haven’t missed a beat in making themselves a part of the Gator family. It was so fun for me to be able to play with some girls that I wish were on my team back in the day. It was a good experience.”

Jenkins was one of the most storied players in the history of Florida volleyball, earning All-America honors en route to Florida’s first appearance in the NCAA Championship final, falling in four sets to USC.

“As long as they focus on the small things and know they can win and believe in that, believe in themselves and believe in their training, they’ll go far,” Jenkins added. “All of their hard work pays off: every sprint, every lift, every rep in practice, doing everything as a team…it all pays off. With past experience with the Gator family, we were close on and off the court and it showed.”

The teams changed lineups and several players switched sides throughout the evening to prepare different combinations and match-ups, as loyal fans lined the walls of the Lemerand to watch crowd favorites like Jaeckel and Murphy back in action after their professional season together in Puerto Rico.

Florida head coach Mary Wise will discuss the spring season on Monday, April 16th at Florida’s All Sports Press Conference.