North Carolina State Match

Senior outside hitter Marcie Hampton and freshman opposite hitter Lauren Bledsoe notched nine kills apiece to lead a University of Florida attack that hit .420 en route to sweeping North Carolina State, 3-0 (30-15, 30-14, 30-21), on Friday night in front of 2,303 people at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center.

The seventh-ranked Gators’ .420 hitting percentage was its best since registering a .429 mark against Florida A&M in the first round of the 2006 NCAA Championship, and included season single-game high .600 clip in the second frame. Six Florida players hit better than .400 individually in the victory.

Florida’s nine service aces were also a season best. Redshirt freshman outside hitter Janine Williams led UF behind the service line with a trio of aces on the night, establishing a new career high. The Gators also limited N.C. State to a .029 efficiency mark, while out-digging the Wolfpack, 40-27. Sophomore libero/defensive specialist Elyse Cusack led all players with 16 digs on the night.

“Any time you a play a match and you’re getting kills from everyone but your defensive specialists, that means you’re offense is clicking,” Florida head coach Mary Wise said. “Credit our hitters and setters, but Elyse Cusack deserves a lot of credit because she has been so constantly good for us in the back row. This was also a great experience for our younger players because you can’t simulate playing in front a crowd this size during practice.”

UF got off to a lightning-quick start in game one, as Bledsoe and Hampton both picked up kills to aid in a 4-1 run to open the match. The duo combined for seven of the Gators’ first eight kills, driving the Orange and Blue to a 15-5 lead midway through the stanza. Senior opposite hitter Amber McCray tallied her first kill of the night minutes later to make the score 19-9 and Hampton followed with consecutive kills to put the Gators up a dozen points. UF reached the 25-point mark in the game when Hampton fired an ace, and a kill by senior setter Angie McGinnis gave the home team a 15-point edge at 26-11. The Gators hit an outstanding .517, earning 18 kills on 39 attempts, in the game, wrapping it up by a score of 30-15 when senior middle blocker Kisya Killingsworth hammered a ball into open space down the right line.

Game two started in a similar fashion as the opening frame, as a Bledsoe kill and an ace from Killingsworth sparked a 4-1 run at the outset. After the Wolfpack battled back to tie the score at 4-4, Florida took the next three points on the strength of a kill by McCray and Bledsoe’s second ace of the season. The Gators opened up a 15-9 lead at the halfway point by way of a Killingsworth kill, and the lead reached 10, 20-10, on a double block by McCray and sophomore middle blocker Kristina Johnson. The Wolfpack were forced to call a timeout after sophomore setter Alli Cecchini made the score 24-11 with her first ace of the season, and UF closed out the game on a 6-2 run to head into the locker room with a 30-14 game-two win. Florida’s .600 efficiency rate in game two outdid its game-one effort, as Bledsoe and McCray each recorded three kills on as many swings to lead the charge.

Game three was tightly contested at the beginning, but the Gators managed to open up an 8-5 lead on a kill by freshman outside hitter Callie Rivers. The margin stretched to 13-8 after an ace by freshman libero/defensive specialist Erin Fleming, but NCSU climbed back within three after taking back-to-back points. UF recovered to collect the consecutive points on several Wolfpack miscues, and ran out to a 19-13 lead on the strength of a kill and two aces from Williams. With the score 24-20, UF ripped off six of the next seven points to wrap up the match, 30-21.

Georgia Southern University Match

The seventh-ranked University of Florida volleyball team used a career-high 10 kills from freshman outside hitter Callie Rivers to post a 3-0 (30-16, 30-25, 30-19) win over Georgia Southern on Friday in the second match of the Campus USA Credit Union Invitational.

Rivers added a pair of aces to her 10 kills, as UF recorded seven service aces for the third match in a row. Redshirt freshman outside hitter Janine Williams led all participants with five total blocks, sophomore libero/defensive specialist Elyse Cusack turned in a match-high 14 digs and senior setter Angie McGinnis paced the field with 24 assists. Twelve of the 14 players on the UF roster saw action in the victory.

“We hope to be able to put any combination of six players on the court and still be difficult to defend,” Florida head coach Mary Wise said. “We did a good job of mixing things up today, and that will hopefully be a reoccurring theme. The depth of our team allows us to see what certain lineups are able to do. We left some blocks out there today, and we’ll keep working to get better in that area.”

The Gators hit a season-high .370, including a .429 mark in the third game, while holding GSU to a .095 clip. Five UF players hit better than .300 on the day, led by a .700 rating (7k, 10 TA) on the part of senior middle blocker Kisya Killingsworth.

Sophomore middle blocker Kristina Johnson came up with eight kills on .583 hitting, and Williams also recorded eight while chipping in with a pair of aces. Sophomore setter Alli Cecchini saw the most significant setting time of her career and posted a personal-best 12 assists to triple her previous high, while junior middle blocker Kelsey Bowers helped out on a season-high four blocks.

The Gators took eight of the match’s first 10 points, benefiting from a service ace by McGinnis and consecutive kills from senior opposite hitter Amber McCray during the run, to force an early Georgia Southern timeout. Rivers came out hot after the break, serving back-to-back aces to help widen UF’s lead to 11-3. After GSU cut the margin to five, a pair of kills by both Williams and McGinnis brought the lead back to eight at 16-8. The Eagles managed to record a kill on the next rally, but Florida won the next three points, opening a 10-point lead on McGinnis’ third kill of the frame. UF’s lead grew to as large as 12 in the game, with McGinnis leading the way with four kills and Rivers, McCray and Killingsworth each picking up three as the Gators hit .395 as a unit.

The teams traded the first eight points of game two before consecutive kills gave Georgia Southern a 6-4 lead, but Florida battled back to tie the score at 7-7 on a Rivers kill. Four kills by Johnson and a GSU error accounted for Florida’s next five points to open a 12-9 lead for the Orange and Blue, but the Eagles stormed back to within a point, 16-15. UF captured the next four points on the strength of two McGinnis kills, forcing a timeout by Georgia Southern with the score at 20-15. GSU cut the Gators’ lead to two, 23-21, but Johnson delivered her sixth kill of the game and Cusack ripped an ace to push the lead back up to four. UF took five of the game’s last nine points to win the frame, 30-25, and head into the intermission with a 2-0 lead. Florida outhit the Eagles, .286-.143, in the game, and nearly doubled GSU’s dig total, 14-8.

UF got out to a 7-0 lead in game three, with a block solo from Williams and a block assist by Killingsworth and McCray highlighting the run, and the scoreboard read 9-1 in UF’s favor before GSU called its first timeout. Kills by Killingsworth and Rivers helped the Gators open up an 11-3 advantage, and the lead reached nine, 15-6, a few minutes later courtesy of a kill by McCray. The edge stretched to 11, 23-12, on a GSU attack error, and didn’t fall below nine for the remainder of the match. Killingsworth paced the Gators with four kills in the game, and the team’s .429 hitting efficiency was a season single-game high.