Coach Wise claims 500th win as Florida sweeps Georgia

September 15th, 2006

University of Florida coach Mary Wise claimed the 500th victory of her career at UF as the sixth-ranked Gators defeated Georgia 3-0 (30-21, 30-24, 30-21) to win the school’s 41st straight match against the Bulldogs on Friday evening at the Ramsey Center.

Wise won her 500th match in just her 552nd contest at UF – which is believed to make her the fastest coach in NCAA Division I history to win 500 matches at one school. Junior Kisya Killingsworth led the Gators with 17 kills and 12 digs. Florida (8-1, 1-0) finished with more kills (48-38), digs (62-52) and blocks (13.0-8.0) and out-hit the Bulldogs (4-7, 0-1) .252-.104.

“We thought Kisya would have to have a big match and she did that tonight,” Wise said. “She had 17 kills and 12 digs out of the back row from a position she’s not used to playing. As for the win, it was special because former Gator Steffi Legall (Georgia’s head coach) was on the floor. She’s one of the players that helped get things started and that made it special.”

Wise improved to 40-0 all-time against Georgia in becoming just the second coach in the 100-plus year history of Florida athletics to amass as many as 500 wins as a Gator coach. Former baseball coach Dave Fuller (1948-76) is the only other UF coach to accomplish the feat (557 wins). Of Wise’s 500 victories at Florida, 389 have been three-game sweeps.

The Gators improved to 16-0 all-time under Wise in Southeastern Conference openers and won their 17th consecutive meeting against the Bulldogs in Athens.

Junior setter Angie McGinnis also fared well on the evening with 38 assists, 10 digs, five kills and four blocks, while freshman middle blocker Kristina Johnson added nine kills on .400 hitting with five blocks.

Junior opposite hitter Amber McCray finished in double figures in points for the ninth consecutive match this season with eight kills and five blocks (11. 5 points). Sophomore middle blocker Kelsey Bowers added six kills and seven block assists.

Florida returns to action on Sunday when the Gators cap their three-matches in six days, three-state road swing by taking on South Carolina at 1:30 p.m. (ET). The contest will air live on Cox Sports (channel 67 in Gainesville ) as well as Rock 104 and www.GatorZone.com.