Gators Have Challenge Review System Handy as Season Opens
Thursday, August 25, 2016 | Volleyball, Scott Carter
A blatant missed call cost Gators momentum in Elite Eight loss at Texas last season.
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – At the team's media day last week, it took less than a minute for the subject to be broached.
"Thanks for bringing that up,'' Gators volleyball coach Mary Wise quipped.
Eight months may have passed since Florida's controversial loss to Texas in the Elite Eight, but that doesn't make it easier to accept for Wise and the nine returning players.
Or for those seniors no longer here, the final game of their college careers marred by a missed call that left the Gators in disbelief and Florida fans irate on social media.
The Gators never received an official apology or acknowledgement of the officiating error from the NCAA -- at least not publicly -- but when they open the season Friday night against No. 1-ranked and defending national champion Nebraska, they can take the court knowing they have an opportunity to challenge such an erroneous call.
The 10-person NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball Committee in the offseason approved more widespread use of the challenge review system (CRS) to dispute calls. The Southeastern Conference has adapted the CRS rule for the 2016 season after the Big 12 and Big 10 conferences used the replay system on an experimental basis in 2015.
The Gators open the season in the VERT Challenge at the University of Oregon. After facing Nebraska on Friday, the Gators play the host Ducks on Saturday. Meanwhile, Oregon opens Friday against Texas, which lost to Nebraska in the national title match in December.
Lisa Peterson, deputy athletic director at Oregon and recently appointed chair of the Division I Volleyball Committee, said Thursday the CRS is in place this season at Matthew Knight Arena, where Oregon plays its home matches.
The NCAA's approval to use the CRS at the Final Four in 2016 appears the first step in the rule eventually becoming a permanent one.
"We do think it's important and you don't want mistakes to cost schools an opportunity to advance,'' Peterson said.
The NCAA Division I Volleyball Rules Committee recommended the change in January, just weeks after Florida's loss at Texas. Other miscalls in recent years prompted the experimental use of the CRS a year ago in select conferences. While implementation of the CRS will vary from school to school based on technology available, all UF home conference games this season will use the challenge system.
The Gators will play home games at the Lemerand Center in 2016 while Exactech Arena at the Stephen C. O'Connell Center undergoes a $64.5 million renovation. The building is on schedule to re-open in December.
"It is exciting that any campus can choose to implement this rule using its current technology," Kelley Kish, the NCAA Division I Volleyball Committee rules chair and associate director of athletics at Nova Southeastern University, said in a press release.
Kish is a UF graduate who was the Florida volleyball team's coordinator of operations from 2001-10. "Whether a match is web-streamed or televised, the challenge review system can be used,'' she said. "We want to give the officials a tool to help get calls right."
Under the current CRS format, each team has three challenges per match and only one challenge per rally. Coaches may challenge net faults, whether a player touched a ball, balls called in or out, and service foot-faults.
While any institution may use the CRS, there is no requirement to do so by the NCAA currently. In theory, at least for this season, if an identical situation such as in December happened between Florida and Texas in the Elite Eight, and Texas had opted not to use the CRS, the result would be the same.
However, Peterson said that starting in 2017 all regional hosts in the NCAA Tournament must use the CRS. That would include all sites after the first two rounds.
While the disappointing loss at Texas lingers – Florida was on the verge of qualifying for its first Final Four since 2003 – Wise is ready to turn the page.
A new season has arrived. A new team is in place. Another quest for that elusive Final Four berth is about to begin.
"I think it would be difficult, honestly, for any of the people there in that environment to forget it,'' Wise said. "Yet, there are nine new players who weren't a part of that. The beauty of college athletics is you get to reboot every year.
"It's part of our story, but that's not going to define us."
