Senior
outside hitter Jane Collymore
(Englewood, Colo.) paced a balanced attack with 12 kills and 16.0 points in
leading No. 4 Florida to its 14th straight victory against Arkansas
3-0 (30-10, 33-31, 30-23) before a crowd of 2,522 fans Friday evening at the
Stephen C. O’Connell Center.
Collymore
tallied her 39th career double-double with 12 kills and 13 digs,
while also leading the Gators (19-1, 9-0) with four service aces. Florida extended its
streak of consecutive games won in the Southeastern Conference to 27 while
posting its 201st straight win against an unranked opponent. The
Gators finished with more kills (45-37), aces (11-2), digs (58-49) and total
blocks (6.0-5.5), while out-hitting Arkansas
(13-8, 6-3) .220-.076. The Lady Razorbacks entered the contest as the
eighth-best blocking team in the country at a clip of 3.44 per game.
“Game one
for us came awfully easy and as a coach, you fear maybe too easy,” Florida coach Mary Wise
said. “Games two and three were much more indicative of the Arkansas team we thought we’d see. To win in
three against a great blocking team says a lot about our passing tonight.”
Senior
libero Rachel Engel (Littleton,
Colo.) added her 16th career
20-plus dig match with a match-high 23, while sophomore outside hitter Marcie Hampton (Gainesville, Fla.)
added nine kills on .300 hitting with 11 digs. Sophomore middle blocker Kari Klinkenborg (Highlands Ranch, Colo.) chipped in
with eight kills on .583 hitting with two solo blocks.
Six
different Gators notched an ace in the match, led by Collymore’s four, while Hampton added three and
four other players finished with one. In collecting 13 digs, Collymore moved
into ninth place in Florida
history with 985 digs. She is just 15 shy of becoming the eighth player in UF
history to reach 1,000.
Florida opened the match in dominating
fashion with an 11-0 run behind Collymore’s serve leading UF to a 30-10 win.
The 10 points marked the lowest total by an opponent all season. With the
Gators already on top 12-8, Collymore held serve for 11 consecutive points,
which included four aces, and gave Florida an
insurmountable advantage at 23-8 before sophomore setter Angie McGinnis (Fraser,
Mich.) ended the game with a
kill. The Gators out-hit Arkansas
.458 to -.100 in the game as UF had just one attack error and 12 kills on 24
swings.
Arkansas challenged the Gators in the second game and held a 27-25
lead in the latter stages before Florida
rallied to take the frame 33-31. The game was tight throughout before the Lady
Razorbacks tallied a pair of consecutive points to move on top 27-25. The
Gators fought back with a kill from sophomore opposite hitter Amber McCray (Longview,
Texas) and a kill from Hampton to tie the game at 28-28. Amy Allison
tallied a kill to give Arkansas a 29-28
advantage, but Florida
staved off a point with a Collymore kill. The Gators moved ahead 30-29 after an
Arkansas
attack error, but the Lady Backs fought off that and another match point at
31-30. But Collymore stuck again with a kill, which was followed by another Arkansas attack error to
end the game. Collymore and sophomore middle blocker Kisya Killingsworth (Deltona,
Fla.) each tallied a
game-high five kills, while Engel added a game-high 10 digs.
The third
frame was also close until the Gators pulled away late in a 30-23 win. Florida stormed out to take an early lead with Hampton serving six
straight points to give UF a 10-5 advantage. Arkansas remained within striking distance
and pulled within one at 21-20. The Gators tallied the next three points to
move on top 24-21 and never looked back before the match ended with an Arkansas attack error.
Collymore again led all players with six kills in the game on .357 hitting,
while Engel notched eight digs.
Florida returns to action on Sunday, Oct.
23 when the Gators face LSU at 1:30 p.m. at the O’Connell Center. The match
will be carried live on WRUF-AM 850 and www.GatorZone.com
in addition to being streamed live via GatorVision Online
