Behind 10 kills and 16
digs from sophomore outside hitter Marcie
Hampton (Gainesville, Fla.),
No. 6 Florida defeated Mississippi 3-0 (30-13,
30-11, 30-16) Sunday afternoon at the Gillom Sports
Center.
The win was the 76th
straight SEC regular season away victory for Florida
(12-1, 2-0) and the 42nd in a row against teams from the state of Mississippi. Florida out-hit the
Rebels (6-8, 0-2) .379-.084 and finished with more kills (46-25), digs (57-35)
and blocks (4.0-2.0). The Gators also posted a season-best 13 service aces to
just two service errors with six different Gators recording at least one ace.
Senior outside hitter Jane Collymore (Englewood, Colo.)
also fared well for UF with 14 kills on .375 hitting with eight digs.
“We ask Marcie to play so
many roles for us and she did just that today,” Florida coach Mary Wise said. “We challenged
her and she responded. I’m also very proud of Rhian Davis. The team followed
her lead on serving. The team competes so hard off her serve and she started
off games 1 and 2 very well.”
Senior libero Rachel Engel (Littleton,
Colo.) ended the contest with 13 digs in
becoming just the seventh player in Florida
history to amass at least 1,000 in a career. Collymore also moved into fifth in
Gator history in career kills with 1,279. Sophomore setter Angie McGinnis (Fraser,
Mich.) posted another solid
all-around effort with 31 assists, nine digs, six kills and two blocks. Junior
defensive specialist Rhian Davis (Austin, Texas)
gave the Gators a huge boost in the serving department as she finished with
four aces and served several lengthy UF runs, including stretches of nine, six
and five consecutive points. The 13 service aces marked the first time the
Gators had finished in double digits since finishing with 10 vs. IPFW on Sept.
5, 2004.
The Gators took control
from the beginning of the first game as UF used an early 7-0 run to take a 9-2
lead behind the strong serving of Davis
en route to a 30-13 win. The Rebels came back within seven at 15-8, but the
Gators then scored five straight to move on top 20-8 and Mississippi never threatened. Collymore led
all players with seven kills, while Hampton
added seven digs. The Gators out-hit Mississippi
.484-.088 and finished the opening game with five service aces, including two
apiece from McGinnis and Davis.
The second game resembled
the first as UF scored the first 10 points before cruising to a 30-11 win. With
Davis again holding serve, the Gators tallied
the opening 10 points, which included a pair of aces from Davis and kills from five different players. Davis’ serve again gave the Rebels fits later on in the
game as the Gators put six consecutive points on the scoreboard to move ahead
25-6 before the game ended on a Mississippi
service error. Hampton
paced UF with five kills, while also leading the Gators with seven digs.
The final game was closer,
but ended with a 30-16 Gator win. The teams traded points early with the Gators’
lead shrinking to two at 7-5 following a Rebel kill. But Florida
tallied four straight points nine of the next 10 to go ahead 16-6 and Mississippi never
threatened again before the match ended on a Rebel attack error. Sophomore
opposite hitter Amber McCray (Longview, Texas)
finished with a game-high six kills on six swings, while Engel added six digs.
Florida will play its third straight SEC match on the road
when the Gators travel to Georgia
Wednesday, Sept. 28 for a contest slated to begin at 7 p.m. The matchup will be
carried live on Rock 104 and www.GatorZone.com.
