MATCH STATS
- No. 4 Florida def. Auburn 3-1 (25-16, 17-25, 25-19, 25-15)
- Florida moves to 16-1, 8-1 SEC; Auburn falls to 11-8, 4-6 SEC
- Auburn, Alabama
- Attendance: 889
- Box Score
AUBURN, Ala. – No. 4 Florida utilized a balanced offensive attack, while hitting .300 or better in three sets and besting Auburn in everything but aces in a four-set road win on Sunday.
The Gators hit .336 on the day, with a .423 effort in the opening set followed by .250, .345 and .333 efficiencies. Auburn struggled offensively, giving away 24 points on errors, including 10 on blocks. Florida also topped the Tigers in kills (52-40), blocks (10.5 to 3) and digs (61-49). Auburn served up six aces to five by Florida.
Redshirt senior outside hitter Shainah Joseph and sophomore middle blocker Rachel Kramer turned in 13 and 12 kills respectively for the Gators, but it was a balanced offensive attack for the victors as three other players notched eight or more kills. Senior outside Carli Snyder (9), freshman outside Paige Hammons (9) and senior middle Rhamat Alhassan (8) made up the group. Joseph hit at a team-best .632 clip with 13 kills and just one error in 19 swings. Kramer also had an efficient effort, turning a .476 performance. Alhassan put up a team-best seven blocks, while Snyder notched 18 digs and three aces to lead the backcourt. Senior libero Carolina Knop chipped in 16 digs.
Junior outside Brenna McIlroy was the lone Tiger in double-digits, notching 10 kills. Freshman middle Anna Stevenson (9), and sophomore middles Gwyn Jones (7) and Shaina White (7) followed. Stevenson hit at a team-leading .467 clip, while White put up a team-best two blocks. Sophmore outside Karis Beasley (13), senior setter Alexa Filley (11) and senior libero Jesse Earl (9) provided much of the team’s backcourt defense. Filley rounded out a double-double with 31 assists.
After a tie at 8-all in Set 1, Florida put together a 10-4 run to vault ahead 18-12. Kills by four different players, including two by Jones, and a pair of blocks, helped the Gators to the six-point lead. A kill and an ace by Hammons pushed the Florida advantage to eight at 21-13. Auburn scored three of the next four, including an ace and a kill by Courtney Crable, to slow the Gator attack, but UF got three straight kills from Kramer to cap the 25-16 win.
Auburn built a six point lead at 15-9 in Set 2 and never looked back en route to a 25-17 win to even the match. Three White putaways and two by McIlroy coupled with two Earl aces and three Gator errors contributed to the Tiger advantage. The margin swelled to eight at 18-10 and again at 20-12 and 21-13. Florida was within six three times, last at 23-17, before a service error an Jones putaway wrapped up the set.
The teams split the first 24 points of Set 3 with neither gaining more than a two-point edge in the early going. Florida scored nine of the next 12 to grab a six-point lead at 21-15. Four Auburn errors and a pair of Allie Monserez blocks helped the Gator cause. The Tigers scored three in a row, two on UF errors, but could not hold off a final 4-1 push by Florida. A Joseph putaway finished off the 25-19 win.
Florida took an early 9-3 advantage with three points coming on Auburn errors and the final two points coming on back to back blocks by Alhassan and Monserez. A Monserez ace upped the margin to seven at 13-6, by White countered with a pair of kills. The Gators doubled their lead from five (14-9) to 10 (20-10) with hep from three Joseph putaways. The teams traded points down the stretch, with Florida managing the final two on a service error and hitting miscue for the 25-15 win and the match.
The SEC Network breaks it down with @GatorMary ! @alliemonz was dishing it out today with 41 assists & @shainahjoseph put down 13 kills! ??? pic.twitter.com/Nu6oJgtTuX
— Gators Volleyball (@GatorsVB) October 22, 2017
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