Florida sweeps FAMU
November 30th, 2006
Junior outside hitter Marcie Hampton recorded an NCAA personal-best 21 kills on .559 hitting in leading #7 Florida to its 21st consecutive win and a spot in the second round of the NCAA Championship after a sweep of Florida A&M (30-18, 30-16, 30-26) Thursday evening at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center.
Florida (29-2) will move on to face Arizona State (16-14) at 7 p.m. Friday for a chance to advance to the Gainesville Regional Dec. 8. The Sun Devils beat the College of Charleston 3-1 in the opening match.
The Gators hit a season-best .429 in the contest – the second-best hitting percentage for UF in an NCAA match in school history. Florida finished with more kills (57-41), aces (4-1), digs (48-27) and blocks (12.0-2.0) and out-hit Florida A&M .429 to .182.
“Those numbers came against one of the best teams we’ve ever faced in the NCAA first round,” Florida coach Mary Wise said. “The Marcie Hampton-Angie McGinnis combination was lethal tonight and for us to come away with a 3-0 win against a team of this caliber is indicative of how well we played.”
The Gators moved to 10-0 all-time in NCAA first round contests and will play in the second round for the 16th time in as many NCAA appearances in UF history.
Junior Angie McGinnis set the Gators to their .429 hitting efficiency and recorded 40 assists, four kills, four digs and three blocks. Sophomore middle blocker Kelsey Bowers picked up 11 kills on .529 hitting and added five blocks. Senior Stefanie Douglas had a match-high seven blocks and added seven kills, while freshman middle blocker Kristina Johnson had nine kills on .692 hitting and six blocks.
Freshman libero Elyse Cusack picked up a team-high 14 digs and is now just nine shy of becoming the second player in UF history to reach 500 in a season.
Florida will return to action tomorrow when the Gators take on Arizona State for the right to advance to the Gainesville Regional (Sweet 16) next Friday. Tomorrow’s match can be seen for free via GatorVision Online and it will be carried on Rock 104 and www.GatorZone.com.
