The No.7 Florida Gators women’s volleyball team fell to the No. 3 Kentucky Wildcats Saturday afternoon with a final score of 3-0. Florida’s four seniors were honored prior to the start of the match.
After losing to Florida in a tough five-set battle and losing their 15 game win streak in Friday’s match, Kentucky came into Saturday’s game looking for redemption. The Wildcats did just that by issuing a complete sweep of the Gators and ending their 12 game win streak.
How it happened
Set 1: 25-20 Kentucky
Similar to the previous match, Florida was able to gain an early advantage as they went up 7-4, but Kentucky wasted no time. The Wildcats were able to tie the Gators at 9-9. The two teams proceeded to demonstrate back-and-forth action at this point until Kentucky was able to outedge Florida. Once Kentucky was able to pull ahead of Florida, this forced a Florida timeout at the 17-14 mark. The Gators were able to stay closely behind the Wildcats until the last few points of the set. Once the two teams hit the 21-20 mark, Kentucky took off and never looked back. The Wildcats finished the set with a 4-0 run and cinched their first win of the day.
Set 2: 25-18 Kentucky
Kentucky came back into the game fighting. They quickly cinched a significant lead over Florida, going up six points with a score of 11-5. Florida did not let this go unanswered. The Gators put together a 5-0 run to reduce the Wildcat’s advantage to one point. However, Kentucky never let Florida catch all the way up as they began to accumulate a lead once again at this point. The Gators tried to muster up strength to try to keep the Wildcats from achieving a second win, but the distance was too great. It did not help their cause that Kentucky put together an impressive 3-0 run at the 22-18 mark to win the set.
Set 3: 25-21 Kentucky
Right off of the bat, Kentucky and Florida began to present toe-to-toe action to start the final set. However, Kentucky prevailed once again. The Wildcats went up 13-9 to put a four point distance between themselves and the Gators. To answer this, Florida began to tick away Kentucky’s lead to tie up the game at 14-14. The two teams were able to trade the next couple of points, but the Wildcats began to edge ahead after a tie at 17-17. Kentucky was able to close out the set and complete the sweep of Florida.
Leaderboard
Kills
Forte, 10
Hall, 7
Carlton, 7
Digs
McKissock, 11
Monserez, 9
Ceasar, 7
Blocks
Forte, 5
Monserez, 3
Ceasar, 1
Assists
Monserez, 24
McKissock, 2
Ceasar, 1
What’s Next?
The Florida Gators will take on the Texas A&M Aggies in College Station, Texas. The two-part series will take place March 24 and March 25 at 7 p.m. on both days.