Volleyball Faces Hot Georgia Team on Sunday
Saturday, October 25, 2008 | Volleyball
The No. 8/7 University of Florida volleyball team looks to extend its Southeastern Conference unbeaten streak to 12 matches on Sunday when it travels to Athens, Ga., to face Georgia. Opening serve between the Gators and the Bulldogs, who enter the contest on a five-match winning streak, is slated for 1:30 p.m. EST in the Ramsey Student Center and the match will be carried live on WRUF-AM 850 with Tom Collett.
The Gators (17-1, 11-0 SEC) are coming off of a thrilling five-set victory against LSU on Friday night in Baton Rouge. Freshman right-side/setter Kelly Murphy (Wilmington, Ill.) charted her 10th consecutive double-double in the match with a career-high 19 kills on .395 hitting and 20 assists. Junior libero Elyse Cusack (Melrose, Fla.) moved into sole possession of second place on the school's all-time career digs list and now has 1,401 scoops with 17 digs in that match. She also recorded a 1.000 serving percentage in 31 service attempts with two aces.
As a team, Florida leads the SEC in both kills per set (13.71) and assists per set (12.75). The Gators also are second in the league in hitting percentage (.263) and opponent hitting percentage (.159).
Redshirt freshman outside hitter/right-side Kristy Jaeckel (Littleton, Colo.) leads the way for the Gators offensively, ranking fifth in the SEC in kills per set with 3.31, while Murphy is sixth in the league with 3.26 put-downs per set. Murphy also is second in the SEC in hitting percentage with a .377 hitting efficiency, and is first on the team with a squad-best 5.71 assists per set. Cusack is tops on the squad and third in the league in digs per set with 4.29.
The Gators and Bulldogs meet for the 56th time in the history of the two programs, with the Gators holding a 47-8 advantage in the all-time series. UF is 44-0 vs. the Bulldogs under Wise and 32 of Florida's wins against Georgia have been 3-0 sweeps. The two teams have met twice a year during the regular season in every campaign since 1992. Florida head coach Mary Wise has more victories against UGA than any other opponent.
Georgia enters Sunday's match with a 13-9 overall record, including a 6-5 mark in SEC play. The Bulldogs currently are in last place in the league's Eastern Division, but have been on a tear lately, winning five consecutive matches after dropping five of their first SEC contests.
Senior outside hitter Maria Taylor leads the way for the Bulldogs, ranking second in the SEC in kills per set with 3.83. Freshman setter Kathleen Gates is second in the league in service aces with 0.43 and is third in assists with 9.95 per set, while sophomore libero Erika Clark is 10th in the SEC in digs per set with 3.30.
Complete results and a recap of Sunday's match will be available at www.GatorZone.com.
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