Florida Volleyball Sweeps Season Opener Against Boston College
I’ll be the first to admit I don’t know a lot about volleyball, but that won’t stop me from learning. It definitely doesn’t hurt to follow a great program.
No. 9 Florida opened their season exactly how they would have wanted to. The Gators swept visiting Boston College 3-0 (25-11, 25-15, 25-16) in their opening match in the Active Ankle SEC/ACC Challenge.
Head coach Mary Wise was pleased with her team’s performance, but seemed happier she got to get so many players into the match: “…lots of people got playing time and lots of people with little experience got playing time, which was good.”
The kill (is there a better named statistic in sports?) leaders for the match were seniors Stephanie Ferrell and Kristy Jaeckel with seven each and senior Cassandra Anderson who added six. Senior Kelly Murphy and sophomore Chanel Brown led the way combining for 27 assists and freshman libero (is there a better named position in sports?) Taylor Unroe had nine digs.
The Gators took advantage of their superior talent on serves and totaled 14 aces in the match. Fast starts helped Florida finish off Boston College in each of the first two sets as the Gators got out to 8-2 and 7-1 leads early. The third set began tighter with the teams tied 5-5, but a 5-0 run by the Gators put them ahead for good.
Next up for the Gators: Florida meets UNC at 7:30 on Saturday. You can watch online on GatorVision.
Want to know more about the stars of the match? Of course you do…
Ferrell is a senior hitter from Los Angeles, CA. She joined the Gators in 2010 after spending her first two college seasons at Hawaii. In 2010 with Florida, Ferrell appeared in 26 matches and 44 sets. She is well on her way to besting her 2010 average of 0.84 kills per set.
A senior from Littleton, CO, Jaeckel is a three-time All-SEC team selection making the first-team once, the second-team once, and the all-freshmen team once. Heading into 2011, she has appeared in 92 matches and 322 sets. In 2010, Jaeckel ranked third on the team with 2.51 kills per set, a number she rose to 2.61 in SEC play.
Another senior, Anderson came to the Gators from Bakersfield, CA. The middle blocker has appeared in 87 matches and 287 set during her Florida career. In 2010, Anderson led the SEC in blocks per set with 1.27 (she finished second in 2009 with 1.23). Like Jaeckel, she was better in SEC play and averaged 1.32 blocks in those sets.
A senior from Wilmington, IL, Murphy was a First-Team AVCA All-American in 2010. It was the third season she has been named to an All-American team. Murphy was also the 2010 SEC Player of the Year and a First-Team All-SEC selection. She has an amazingly long list of accomplishments and highlights, so I suggest you just go here and read up.
A 2010 SEC All-Freshman Team selection, Brown came to Florida from Tempe, AZ. A sophomore, she appeared in 31 matches and 111 sets during her freshman season in 2010. Brown led the Gators with 5.59 assists per set last season, which was good for Florida’s fifth-best freshman season ever.
From Muncie, IN, Unroe came to Florida in 2010, but used a medical redshirt and sat out the entire season. Her high school team – Burris – won four state championships during her time on the squad and went undefeated her senior year.