Florida complete home Spring Fling Competitions

March 24th, 2007

Rising senior outside hitter Marcie Hampton led the University of Florida to a trio of victories in the morning session with 18 kills, six digs and four aces, while rising senior Kisya Killingsworth paced the Gators in the afternoon with 21 kills, four digs, four aces and three blocks in spring volleyball action on Saturday at the Lemerand Center.

In the opening session, the Gators defeated UCF 1-0 (30-21), Tampa 2-0 (30-21, 17-15) and the College of Charleston 1-0 (30-18). In the afternoon, Florida opened with a 2-0 victory against Tampa (30-22, 15-13) before splitting with UCF 1-1 (30-27, 13-15) and wrapping up action with a 2-0 win against the College of Charleston (30-28, 15-11).

“Today was all about giving Alli Cecchini the opportunity to run a 5-1 and we saw some really good things out of that position,” Florida coach Mary Wise said. “It also allowed us to move Kisya Killingsworth back to the middle and for Janine Williams to get a lot of reps on the left side. In the spring, if you get better and you don’t get hurt, then you’re doing great and that’s what happened for us today.”

For the day, Hampton led the Gators with 36 kills, while adding 13 digs, five aces and three solo blocks. Killingsworth added 34 kills, four aces and five total blocks, while freshman outside hitter Janine Williams recorded 28 kills, 17 digs, seven aces and five total blocks. Rising sophomore libero Elyse Cusack led the Gators with 22 digs.

Rising sophomore Alli Cecchini fared well in setting the Gators, while collecting eight digs, three aces and three kills. Rising junior middle blocker Kelsey Bowers added 22 kills and three blocks and rising junior defensive specialist Christina Diaz chipped in with 16 digs and three aces.

UF started strong with a 30-21 win against UCF in the opening contest. The Gators never trailed and Hampton led UF with six kills and a pair of aces in the game. Florida squared off against the defending NCAA Division II national champions in Tampa in the second match and Florida cruised to a 30-21 in the opening game with Killingsworth and Williams each finishing with four kills. The second game was tight with Florida rallying from a late 14-12 deficit to claim a 17-15 victory. UF closed out the morning with a 30-18 win against the College of Charleston with Hampton providing the bulk of the offense with eight kills and Williams closing out the match with three straight aces.

In the afternoon, the Gators began play by beating Tampa 30-22 in the opening game behind five kills from Hampton and Williams. The second frame was again close with Tampa moving in front 10-6 before the Gators scored nine of the final 12 points to earn a 15-13 victory behind five kills from Williams. Florida fought off a late UCF rally to post a 30-27 win in the opening game as Killingsworth totaled seven kills and Hampton added six. UCF came from behind to steal the second game as the Gators led 13-11, but couldn’t close things out before falling 15-13. Florida ended the day with a 30-28, 15-11 win against the College of Charleston. Killingsworth guided the Gators in the opening game with six kills before Bowers and Killingsworth each tallied a pair of kills in the second game.

The Gators will return to action in the spring next weekend when Florida travels to Minneapolis to face Minnesota, Washington State and Notre Dame in a tournament hosted by the Gophers on March 31.