Florida sweeps thru Day 1 at Aquafina Invitational
September 2nd, 2005
The #8 University of Florida volleyball team battled a pair of tough teams in Dayton and Missouri State and came away with two wins on the opening day of the Aquafina Volleyball Invitational Friday at the Stephen C. O'Connell Center.
In the opening match of the day, the Gators defeated Dayton 3-0 (30-25, 30-26, 30-16) before taking down Missouri State 3-0 (30-20, 30-21, 30-23) before a crowd of nearly 2,000 fans Friday evening.
"We came away with a pair of wins against two good teams today," Florida coach Mary Wise said. "We're still showing signs that it's early in the season, but any time you get wins you have to be pleased. We're looking forward to a very challenging matchup with UCSB tomorrow - they're a great team and it's going to make for some exciting volleyball."
In the opening match of the day, freshman Marcie Hampton a match-high 13 kills Junior Stefanie Douglas also had a stellar match as she was just one shy of her career best for kills as she tallied 10 on .375 hitting. Junior Rachel Engel added 20 digs, while Collymore added eight kills and 14 digs.
In the contest against Missouri State, senior Jane Collymore registered a match-high 18 kills, and added two aces to move her to ninth in school history, while sophomore Kisya Killingsworth cruised past her career high in kills with 11. Killingsworth also recorded a career-high six block assists and blazed to a career high .733 hitting percentage. Collymore's match-high 20.5 points guided the Gators to their third win of the season in straight games.
The Gators fought back and forth in the first stanza vs. MSU with Florida holding a slight advantage until the latter stages of the game when UF scored the final seven points. After the Bears came within three at 23-20, the Gators went on a 7-0 run behind the blistering serve of Collymore, who along with sophomore Amber McCray had a pair of kills in the stretch. Collymore led the Gators with eight kills on .500 hitting.
Florida dominated from start to finish in the second game. The Gators raced out to a 5-1 lead and never looked back the rest of the way. Missouri State narrowed the game to one at 14-13, but Florida scored five of the next six points and seven of the next nine to move ahead 24-16. McCray eventually put the Bears away on a kill at 30-21. Collymore led the Gators with six kills on .545 hitting in the game, while Engel added nine digs.
After jumping out to an 8-3 lead in the third game, Missouri State fought back to take the lead midway through before surrendering it to the Gators who sealed the match at 30-23. The Bears led as late as 22-21, but Florida scored eight of the final 10 points to close the match. Behind the serve of Collymore, the Gators tallied the final seven points as both she and McCray had a pair of kills in the stretch. Killingsworth led the Gators with six kills on seven attempts in the game, while Engel added six digs with Florida recording five total blocks in the game.
The Aquafina Volleyball Invitational concludes on Saturday with Dayton taking on Missouri State at 1 p.m. followed by Florida and UCSB at 3:30 p.m. Florida's match will be webcast live on www.GatorZone.com.
Due to the heavy traffic flow for the Gator football opener at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium at 6 p.m., there will be a shuttle service available from the Oaks Mall. The shuttle will begin service at 2:30 p.m. from Macy's and will drop fans off at the O'Connell Center.
