Gators finish regular season with sweep

November 25th, 2006

University of Florida junior outside hitter Marcie Hampton was named MVP after collecting a match-high 13 kills on .303 hitting as #7 Florida swept St. John’s (30-19, 30-22, 30-19) to conclude play at the Conference Challenge on Saturday at the Champions Sports Complex.

Florida (28-2) won its 20th straight match of the season and will enter NCAA Championship play with at least 28 victories for the 12th time in Mary Wise’s 16 seasons as head coach. The Gators out-hit St. John’s (30-4) .389-.064 and finished with more kills (55-35) digs (55-36) and blocks 16.5-3.0.

“We faced a team with 30 wins and a significant amount of international experience,” Wise said. “We don’t normally see a lot of things that they do and for us to have such a good match against them shows the maturity of this team. We blocked well again and the blocking of our team can lead to quick points.”

Junior setter Angie McGinnis joined Hampton on the All-Tournament team after registering 43 assists, eight digs, six blocks and six kills on .667 hitting. Freshman middle blocker Kristina Johnson led all players with seven total blocks and added eight kills on .727 hitting, while sophomore middle blocker Kelsey Bowers added six blocks and six kills.

Junior Kisya Killingsworth finished in double figures in kills with 10 on .467 hitting, while freshman Elyse Cusack collected a match-high 16 digs. Junior opposite hitter Amber McCray chimed in with 11 kills on .500 hitting, while senior defensive specialist Rhian Davis had a strong serving match that included a 10-0 run in game three.

With an ace in the match, Davis moved into a tie for second in Florida history for career service aces by defensive specialists/liberos with 71. Bowers moved into fourth place in UF history for single season blocks by a sophomore and now has 158.

The Gators have now finished undefeated in nine of 11 Thanksgiving tournaments played under Wise and sport a 21-2 record in those matches.

Florida will await its NCAA Championship destination as the selection show will air on Sunday at 3 p.m. on ESPNews. Florida has made the NCAA field in each of Wise’s 15 seasons as head coach and has the automatic bid courtesy of winning the program’s 16th consecutive Southeastern Conference title.