UF Volleyball: #10 Florida vs Oklahoma

Before the football game tonight (which ended up getting cancelled due to nonstop rain and lightning), I attended the Gator volleyball game against Oklahoma. The Gators were able to grind out a victory in the final game of the Active Ankle Challenge as they beat the Sooners in five sets 28-26, 25-12, and 15-8.

Oklahoma gave the #10 ranked Gators all of they could handle this game as they won both the first and the fourth sets 25-22. I was genuinely surprised as I thought Florida would wipe the floor with Oklahoma after I watched the Sooners play a lackluster game against Georgia Southern on Friday. Nevertheless, the Gators remained resilient and were able to hold off the upset-minded Sooners.

Offensively, four Gators reached double digits in kills today. Those four were Alex Holston (19), Simone Antwi (13), Noami Santos-Lamb (12), and Carli Snyder (11). Holston accounted for 21 of the team's 80 points as she dug out three balls and assisted on four blocks. In the assists category, it was all Mackenzie Dagostino as she tallied 51 assists today.

Speaking of blocks, the Gators had 13 of them today. In solo blocks, Carli Snyder led the way as the freshman outside hitter had three of them. Freshman middle blocker Rhamat Alhassan had five assisted blocks and one solo block. Junior setter Mackenzie Dagostino followed the lead of Alex Holston as she also assisted with four blocks and had a solo block of her own. Rounding out the block party is the other middle blocker Simone Antwi who had three of them.

On the digging side of defense, three Gators had double digit digs. Senior Holly Pole led the team with 18, Taylor Unroe was second with 17, and Madison Monserez rounds it out with 11. Both Pole and Unroe also combined for three service aces.

Now 3-0, the #10 Florida Gators will prepare to do battle with the #13 FSU Seminoles as they head to Tallahassee on Thursday, September 4, at 6 p.m. The memory of that NCAA Tournament loss should still be fresh in the minds of the Gators, so I know they will be ready to bring it in this rivalry game. As for Oklahoma, they fall to 2-1 and will head to Dallas to take on the Texas Southern Tigers (0-0) in the SMU Tournament which begins on Friday, September 5. Game time is set for 4 p.m.

*All stats accredited to Gatorzone.com