Match Stats
- #5 Florida def. Tennessee 3-1 (25-21, 19-25, 25-22, 25-20)
- Florida moves to 13-2, 3-1 SEC; Tennessee falls to 10-6, 1-3 SEC
- Gainesville, Florida (Florida hosted)
After being swept at home on Wednesday by Kentucky, the Florida Gators bounced back on Sunday to beat Tennessee 3-1 to improve to 13-2 on the season.
Florida rode double-doubles from veterans Alex Holston (15 kills, 11 digs, .323 average) and Carli Snyder (13 kills, 13 digs, .233 average) .
The 6’2″ right-side hitter Holston came up big time-and-time again for Florida in the game. She killed the Gators’ final point in 3 out of the 4 sets, including the clinching scores in the 1st and 4th sets.
Tennessee, who has struggled in conference play and is only 1-3, was contrarily led by their youth. Freshman outside hitter Tessa Grubbs had 17 kills, 4 digs, 3 blocks, with a .343 average on the day. Sophomore Erica Treiber hit .500 with 10 kills on 18 swings and sophomore libero Brooke Schumacher hit her career bests with 16 digs and 6 assists.
“I’m very happy with how we competed every point,” Tennessee head coach Rob Patrick said. “I thought the team carried out the game plan as well as we could have. I thought we were playing them point-for-point, but eventually Florida made a play here, a play there, that made the difference in the sets they won.”
Florida is now 48-12 all-time against Tennessee, including 44-6 under head coach Mary Wise.
Press Releases
Courtesy Florida Athletics:
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Double-doubles from Alex Holston and Carli Snyder, plus a career match for both Rachael Kramer and Allie Monserez contributed to a gutty performance all around for the No. 5 Gators, who rebounded with a 3-1 victory against Tennessee Sunday in the LemDome to improve to 13-2 on the season, 3-1 in conference play.
Florida grabbed the first set 25-21 before the Volunteers cruised to a 25-19 second-set win to tie the match 1-1 at the break. Holston and fellow All-American Rhamat Alhassan each slammed down eight kills in the final two sets, while redshirt junior Shainah Joseph had two of her three blocks down the stretch in the fourth on the way to 25-22, 25-20 Gator wins in thefinal two frames to seal the deal.
Snyder (13k, 13d) posted her team-leading fifth double-double this season with two huge solo stuffs, back-to-back aces in the first and a team high 18.0 points, while Holston put up her first double dip of the year with a team best 15 kills and 11 digs to the tally. Junior libero Caroline Knop anchored UF in the back row with 15 digs alongside Holston and Snyder double-digit efforts.
Other highlights in Florida’s third SEC win in front of a ‘dig pink’ and blue rowdy Gators crowd included a season best nine kills and 11 points for Joseph, a career high 57 assists for Monserez, the SEC and national leader in assists per set, and a career high 13 kills and 15.5 points for Kramer.
Alhassan, Holston, Joseph, Kramer and Snyder all scored double-digit points for Florida, which will have a whole week to practice before traveling to South Carolina next Sunday.
WORDS FROM WISE
“It took a gritty effort to win today. We sure got that from this group.”
THE RECORDS
Tennessee: 10-6, 1-3 SEC
No. 5 Florida: 13-2, 3-1 SEC
NOTABLES AND TRENDS
Florida posted 11 blocks Sunday against Tennessee, thanks to a team high five from freshman Rachael Kramer and a career tying four from Carli Snyder. The Orange and Blue have eight double-digit blocking efforts this season, three in SEC play
The Gators improved to 48-12 all-time against Tennessee, including 44-6 under Mary Wise and 26-6 against the Volunteers at home
UF served up three aces against UT, giving the Orange and Blue multiple aces in 11 matches this season
UP NEXT
After Sunday’s tilt against Tennessee, Florida will have a week to prepare for a Sunday road test at South Carolina Oct. 9. The Gators and Gamecocks tilt at noon on SEC Network next week.
Courtesy Tennessee Athletics:
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The Tennessee Volunteers took the second set but could not close other close sets in a 3-1 loss to fifth-ranked Florida on Sunday at the Lemerand Center.
Freshman outside hitter Tessa Grubbs finished with 17 kills while adding four digs and three blocks to lead the Vols (10-6, 1-3 SEC).
Senior Bri Holmes added 14 kills while hitting .400. Sophomore libero Brooke Schumacher recorded two career bests with 16 digs and six assists.
All four sets came down to a close finish, but Florida (13-2, 3-1) won three to clinch the match and rebound from a Wednesday loss to Kentucky.
“I’m very happy with how we competed every point,” Tennessee head coach Rob Patrick said. “I thought the team carried out the game plan as well as we could have. I thought we were playing them point-for-point, but eventually Florida made a play here, a play there, that made the difference in the sets they won.”
The Vols tied up the first set 19-19 on a kill by Raina Hembry, but Florida went on a 4-0 run that included back-to-back aces by Carli Snyder. Tennessee saved one set point but Florida eventually took the set 25-21 on a kill by Alex Holston. Both teams hit above .400 in the set with Florida leading with .433.
Tennessee rebounded the in the second set, breaking a 14-14 tie by winning seven of the next nine points. Raina Hembry and Grubbs recorded a block to cap the run and putting Tennessee ahead 21-16. The Vols led the rest of the way, ending the set 25-19 with a 3-0 run.
Grubbs had eight kills in the second set alone to lead the Vols. The Vols hit .378 as a team in the set while Florida dropped to .143.
The third set came down to the wire. Florida scored back to back kills to take a 21-19 lead and stayed ahead the rest of the way. Shainah Joseph had a kill to give the Gators the set 25-22.
Florida led by as many as six points early in the fourth set, but the Vols chipped away at the lead. Back-to-back blocks by Tennessee capped a 3-0 run to tie the set 20-20, but Florida won the last five points to close out the match.
“In the fourth set, we were basically behind five or six points for most of the set but didn’t quit,” Patrick said. “I was really excited about that.”
NOTES
- Tennessee starters: Raina Hembry, Bri Holmes, Alyssa Andreno, Sedona Hansen, Erica Treiber, Britney Vallez and Brooke Schumacher as libero. It is the second time the lineup has been used this year (Georgia, 9/25).
- Bridgette Villano (Davie, Florida) was back playing in her home state.
- Sunday marked the Vols’ first match against a ranked opponent this season. The Vols went 1-2 against top-25 teams last year. This is the only time the Vols and Gators face this season.
- Tessa Grubbs has finished with at least 15 kills six times this season.
- Four Vols had at least 10 kills: Grubbs (17), Holmes (14), Treiber (10) and Hembry (10).
- The Vols have hit above .275 as a team in three of four SEC matches this season.
UP NEXT
- The Vols close out their non-conference schedule Wednesday with a road match at Troy, set for a 7 p.m. start.
- Tennessee concludes the week — and the current four-match stretch of road matches — with a Sunday contest at Kentucky.
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