Florida Goes 3-0 to Take Gator Invitational Title

Gator Invitational

• Gainesville, Florida
• Sept. 14-15, 2018

Florida won all three of its matches en route to the Gator Invitational title. Paige Hammons was named Tournament MVP, while Thayer Hall and Allie Gregory garnered all-tournament team honors.

Army finished second with a 2-1 record.

Standings

1. Florida 3-0
2. Army 2-1
3. FIU 1-2
4. Jacksonville 0-3

Friday Results

Army def. Florida International 3-0 (25-15, 25-20, 25-18)

• Box Score / Army Recap / FIU Recap
• Emmy Barnhorst paced Army with 14 kills and seven blocks, while Courtney Horace hit at a team-best .500 clip with eight kills (8-0-16).
• Margherita Bianchin and Ronja Klinger led FIU with seven kills apiece.
• Army outdid FIU .250 to .042 in hitting efficiency and outblocked its foe 11 to 5.5.

Florida def. Jacksonville 3-1 (22-25, 25-15, 25-14, 25-13)

• Box Score / Florida Recap / Jacksonville Recap
• Jacksonville took Set 1 25-22 despite tailing Florida .212 to .182 in hitting efficiency. The Gators led 21-17, but JU wrapped up the stanza on a 8-1 run, including two Hailey Devlin kills and three Florida miscues.
• The Gators rebounded after that hitting .250 or better the rest of the way, making just six errors.
• Florida bested Jacksonville in kills (44-38), hitting efficiency (.316 to .042), aces (9-2) and blocks (12-4).
• Thayer Hall just missed a double-double with 11 kills, nine digs, five aces and three blocks. Paige Hammons followed with nine kills, seven digs, three blocks and an ace, while hitting at a team-best .450 clip (9-0-20).
• Mallory Mattingly notched a match-high 13 kills to pace JU.

Army def. Jacksonville 3-1 (25-15, 26-28, 25-20, 25-21)

• Box Score / Army Recap / Jacksonville Recap
• Army hit at a .300 clip in the match and bested the Dolphins in blocks (7-4). JU was better from the service line (7-3 in aces).
• Courtney Horace (14) and Emmy Barnhorst (13) led Army offensively, while Sydney Morriss and Cate Buckingham added nine kills apiece. All four hit .286 or better.
• Sara Dyslin posted a match-high 15 kills for JU, while Mallory Mattingly added 14. Hailey Devlin hit at a team-best .471 clip with nine putaways.
• Hannah Marchand served up six aces for the Dolphins, one shy of the school four-set match record.
• Army trailed 17-15 in Set 4, before closing out the win with a 10-4 run, including three kills apiece by Barnhorst and Morriss.

Florida def. FIU 3-0

• Box Score / Florida Recap / FIU Recap
• Florida more than doubled the offensive output of its foes in the match (37-15 in kills). The Gators made just five errors in the match, hitting .421, while FIU committed 24 hitting miscues and hit -.101 for the match (15-24-89).
• The Gators scored the first 19 points of Set 3, 18 with Thayer Hall at the end line. Ten points came on kills and three on blocks.
• Paige Hammons (9), Taelor Kellum (8) and Hall (7) led the Gators offensively. Kellum hit at a .889 clip (8-0-9) and put up a team-best six blocks.
• Fifteen players saw action for the Gators, while 13 players saw the court for FIU.
• Margherita Bianchin led FIU with four kills and two blocks. She was one of six players with a kill for the Panthers.

Saturday Results

Florida def. Army 3-1 (25-16, 25-12, 20-25, 25-16)

• Box Score / Florida Recap / Army Recap
• The Set 3 win marked the first time the Black Knights took a set off a ranked opponent since 2009 vs. Pepperdine (3-2 win).
• The Gators hit better than .600 in the first two sets, before stumbling to a .176 effort in Set 3. The team bounced back to hit .312 in the final stanza.
• Florida outdid Army in kills (53-43), aces (7-2) and blocks (11-3), and outhit their foes .389 to .129.
• Thayer Hall (13), Mia Sokolowski (11) and Taelor Kellum (9) were the top offensive scorers for Florida. Sokolowski hit at a .714 clip (11-1-14), while Kellum managed a team-best five blocks.
• Emmy Barnhorst was the lone Army player to reach double-digit kills, posting a match-high 15. Cate Buckingham was next with seven putaways.

FIU def. Jacksonville 3-2 (25-18, 19-25, 25-27, 25-17, 15-7)

• Box Score / FIU Recap / Jacksonville Recap
• FIU piled up 18 blocks and nine aces and outdid Jacksonville offensively (.272 to .208 in hitting, 59-56 in kills) in the comeback victory.
• Nina Petranovic piled up a season-best 19 kills, six blocks and three aces, while Margherita Bianchin added 11 kills and three aces to lead FIU.
• Abbie Hughes and Dorina Klinger put up eight blocks apiece for the Panthers.
• Mallory Mattingly notched 25 kills and nine digs for JU. Sara Dyslin added nine kills and three blocks.
• FIU jumped out to an 8-3 lead in Set 5 and did not allow Jacksonville closer than four the rest of the way. The Panthers ended the match with a 3-0 run, capped by a block by Ronja Klinger and Hughes.