Spearheaded by a 16-kill, 13-dig effort from senior outside hitter Jane Collymore
(Englewood, Colo.) the No. 8 University of Florida volleyball team swept
No. 15 UC-Santa Barbara in three games 30-25, 30-22, 30-24 in the final match
of the Aquafina Volleyball Invitational before the 10th-largest
home crowd in school history (4,798).
Collymore, who was named the tournament's most
valuable player, recorded her 32nd career double-double, while also
adding four blocks. Sophomore setter Angie
McGinnis (Fraser, Mich.)
was named to the all-tournament team after registering 48 assists and 11 digs,
while sophomore outside hitter Marcie
Hampton (Gainesville, Fla.) also was named to the squad after
collecting 11 kills on .458 hitting with 16 digs.
The Gators (4-0) out-hit UCSB (2-1) .318-.128 and collected 13.0 total
blocks to 4.0 for the Gauchos. Florida had at
least three players with six or more kills who hit above .300 in the match,
including sophomore opposite hitter Amber
McCray (Longview, Texas), who finished with
a career-high 11 kills on .409 hitting. Florida
also had four players in double figures in digs, led by Hampton, as the Gators ended the contest with
65 to UCSB's sum of 54.
"It's fair to say we're much improved from playing these three
matches against three very different teams," Florida coach Mary Wise said. "I'm not
sure we'll play an opponent as good at serve, pass and receive as UCSB for a
while. For us to go toe-to-toe and out-dig them says a lot about where we
are."
The Gators were a perfect 3-0 at the tournament after disposing of Dayton and Missouri
State in straight games
on Friday.
In their toughest match in the early stages of the season, the Gators
see-sawed back and forth with UCSB in the first game before scoring the final
four points in a 30-25 win. Florida left
little margin for error for the Gauchos as the Gators hit .488 in the game with
one attack error on 41 swings. Collymore led
the way with seven kills on 15 attempts with McCray going perfect with six
kills on six attacks. The Gators also had five team blocks in the game with
sophomore middle blocker Kisya
Killingsworth (Deltona, Fla.)
picking up four. After a UCSB kill made it 26-25, The Gators tallied the next
four points with McCray notching three kills, including the final point of the
game.
The Gators dominated the second game in streaking out to leads of 10-3
and 19-9 before closing the second frame on a kill from freshman middle blocker
Kelsey Bowers (Gainesville, Fla.)
at 30-22. Florida out-hit UCSB .282-.043
in the game with Collymore tallying five kills on
.625 hitting and McGinnis and junior defensive specialist Rhian Davis (Austin, Texas) adding five digs each.
The Gauchos fought back in the third game and held a lead as late as
19-18. The Gators didn't back down and clawed ahead of UCSB for good when a
Gaucho attack error gave Florida
a 22-21 lead. UCSB came within one point four times the rest of the way, but
the Gators recorded the final four points of the match with McCray sealing
things with a kill at 30-25. Hampton paced Florida with six kills
in the third game, while also adding eight digs along with Collymore.
Florida returns to
action on Monday, Sept. 5, when the Gators host Eastern
Washington at 5 p.m. at the O'Connell Center. The match will be
carried live on GatorVision Online as well as WRUF-AM
850, www.GatorZone.com and Gainesville
Cox Cable channel 96 (audio only).
Aquafina Volleyball Invitational All-Tournament Team
Jane Collymore, Outside Hitter, Florida (MVP)
Faye Barhorst, Middle Blocker, Dayton
Marcie Hampton, Outside Hitter, Florida
Angie McGinnis, Setter, Florida
Erin O'Connor, Outside Hitter, Missouri State
Ashley Dutro, Setter, UCSB
Janine Sandell, Outside Hitter, UCSB
Dayton def. Missouri
State 3-0
The Flyers (3-3) picked up their first win of the tournament by taking
down Missouri State (2-4) in three straight games with
scores of 30-23, 30-28, 30-25.
Faye Barhorst led the attack for Dayton with 18 kills on
.500 hitting in finishing with a match-high 20.5 points. Dayton
out-blocked the Bears 11.0-2.0, while also out-hitting Missouri State
.238-1.38.
Katie Werges paced the Bears with 14 kills
on .323 hitting, while setter Ashley Warren 36 assists, 11 digs and four kills.
Aquafina Volleyball Invitational Results
Friday, Sept. 2, 2005
No. 15 UCSB def. Missouri
State 3-0 (25-30, 29-31,
30-25, 30-27, 18-16)
No. 8 Florida def. Dayton 3-0 (30-25, 30-26, 30-16)
No. 15 UCSB def. Dayton
3-0 (30-17, 30-15, 30-28)
No. 8 Florida def. Missouri State
3-0 (30-20, 30-21, 30-23)
Saturday, Sept. 3, 2005
Dayton def. Missouri State
3-0 (30-23, 30-28, 30-25)
No. 8 Florida
def. No. 15 UCSB 3-0 (30-25, 30-22, 30-24)
