No. 6 Florida Cruises Past Georgia, Coach Gets 400th SEC Win

MATCH STATS

• No. 6 Florida Defeats Georgia (25-18, 25-12, 25-20)
• Team’s Record: Florida (21-2) (11-1 SEC), Georgia (13-11) (1-10 SEC)
• Schedules: Florida here, Georgia here

RECAP

Despite playing in a hostile environment, the 6th-ranked Florida Gators had no trouble putting the Georgia Bulldogs away in three straight sets. Florida’s athletes displayed a dominant performance, but the match’s biggest storyline came from the sidelines. The Gators’ head coach, Mary Wise, recorded her 400th SEC win with the victory in her 26 seasons at the helm of the program.

On offense, Florida was led by Carli Snyder (12 kills), Alex Holston (9 kills) and Rhamat Alhassan (8 kills). Alhassan also matched her 8 kills with 8 blocks, which was a match-high. Florida freshmen Allie Gregory and Chanelle Hargreaves picked up two service aces each.

Even with the short duration of the match, Florida’s libero, Caroline Knop, managed to tally 22 digs.

The Lady Bulldogs managed to record 35 team kills, but could not put up Florida’s same defensive stats. Maddie Lobenstein had 10 kills, and Kendall Kazor was close behind with 8. Majesti Bass and Kazor led the Bulldogs in blocks with three apiece. Cassidy Anderson had the most digs for Georgia with 13.

Looking ahead, Florida will play Mississippi State on Sunday, November 6th, while Georgia will take on South Carolina.

PRESS RELEASES

Courtesy of Florida Athletics:

ATHENS, Ga. – A balanced effort offensively and an outstanding night behind the service line propelled the No. 6 Gators to their fifth straight sweep, ninth consecutive victory, and the 400th Southeastern Conference win in head coach Mary Wise‘s 26 seasons in Gainesville, as UF defeated Georgia in Athens.

The victory also moved the Gators, now 11-1 in SEC play, into sole possession of first place, taking a half-game lead over idle Kentucky and Missouri.

Junior All-American middle blocker Rhamat Alhassan and junior outside hitter Carli Snyder led UF with 13 points apiece. Alhassan tallied hers via eight kills and eight block assists, while Snyder logged a match-high 12 kills and a pair of block assists.

Stellar play from the back row saw junior libero Caroline Knop rack up 22 digs, the highest total in a three-set SEC match this season. In addition to a 33-assist outing, redshirt sophomore setter Allie Monserez tallied career highs in blocks (six) and kills (four).

Florida’s strong service night produced six aces, including two apiece from freshmen defensive specialists Allie Gregory and Chanelle Hargreaves.

THE RECORDS
No. 6 Florida: 21-2, 11-1 SEC
Georgia: 13-11, 1-10 SEC

NOTABLES AND TRENDS

• The Gators improved to 61-9 all-time against Georgia, and have swept 13 of the last 14 meetings
• Florida hit .354, marking the fourth time in the last five matches the Gators hit above .350
  • UF has hit a combined .385 in its last five matches
• For the sixth time in the last eight matches, the Gators held their opponent below a .175 hitting percentage
• UF logged at least six service aces for the seventh time this year
• Rhamat Alhassan logged eight-plus blocks in a match for the fourth time this season
• For the third time in the last four matches, three-time All-American right side Alex Holston committed zero errors, and she registered 20-plus attacks in two of those three matches
• Caroline Knop‘s 22 digs were the third-highest total by an SEC player in any three-set match this year
• Tonight marked the third time this season freshman middle blocker Rachael Kramer hit .700 or above with at least eight total attacks
• Allie Monserez‘s six blocks usurped her previous career high of five, which came at Furman back on Sep. 6, 2014, when she played for South Carolina
• Monserez’s previous career high for kills was two, a total she posted nine times
• Carli Snyder has 10-plus kills in 16 of UF’s 23 matches this season

WORDS FROM WISE
Florida head coach Mary Wise on the team’s sweep tonight…
“Tonight’s match was about really great production out of our right side, particularly Alex Holston and Chanelle Hargreaves. Chanelle behind the service line, Alex with back-to-back matches against Georgia without a hitting error is pretty amazing.”

UP NEXT
Florida returns to action Sunday (Nov. 6) at Mississippi State. Fans can watch the Gators, who are 10-0 on the road this season, via the SEC Network + live stream.

As always, Gator fans can also tune in to the radio broadcast via ESPN Gainesville 95.3 FM / 850 AM, with Tom Collett on the call.

Courtesy of Georgia Athletics:

ATHENS, Ga. — The No. 6 Florida Gators’ offense was hard to defeat, as the sixth-ranked Gators (21-2, 11-1) defeated Georgia (13-11, 1-10) by a 3-0 score on Wednesday night at the Ramsey Center.

Georgia made it a hard-fought battle in the first and third, but Florida took both sets 25-18 and 25-20, respectively. The Gators were able to take the second set comfortably as they defeated the Bulldogs 25-12.

“Florida is a very strong team all-around, a top-10 team in fact,” said head coach Lizzy Stemke. “I like playing these teams because it forces us to raise our level and to really pay attention to the details of the game. I thought we played very hard and aggressive in the first and third sets. I felt as if we took a dip in set two, but I really appreciated the resilience we showed in set one and set three. We are definitely improving all around and it showed some tonight, especially playing a tough team like Florida.”

Georgia had 35 total kills in the contest, as Maddie Lobenstein led the team with 10 kills. On the defensive side, Cassidy Anderson led the Bulldogs with 13 digs while Majesti Bass and Kendall Kazor each totaled three blocks.

In the first, the Bulldogs took an early 6-5 lead after capitalizing on a Gators’ error. The set stayed close until Florida was able to bust open a 13-8 lead, eventually stretching their cushion to as much as 21-14 en route to taking the opening frame 25-18.

The second was all Florida, which jumped out to a 5-0 lead and kept the Bulldogs at arms’ length to a 25-12 set-two win.

Georgia stormed out after the break and took the first three points of the third, but Florida quickly drew even at 4-4. A 6-2 run allowed the Gators to jump ahead 10-6, but the Bulldogs hung tough and clawed back to within one point at 16-15. The visitors were able to seize the victory, using a 9-5 run to close out the match, 25-20.

The Bulldogs return to competition on Sunday at South Carolina, a match that was originally scheduled to be in Athens but forced a flip of venue due to Hurricane Matthew. The game is set for 12:30 p.m. ET on SEC Network+/WatchESPN.