Crazy Weekend of Sports at UF

My Saturday was a busy one as I attended an early cross country meet and two Florida Gator volleyball matches.  I was at cross country for a short while and heard that the men's team won the meet while the girl's team finished in third place.

From cross country, I attended the UF volleyball game at 12 pm vs the Iona Gaels.  The Gaels managed to hang with the #5 ranked Gators through most of the match and the Gators had to rally down 18-22 to win the decisive third set and sweep the Gaels.  There was no standout performance from any particular player in this game to me. 

I left for a bit and came back at 7 pm for the Gators' final game in the Active Ankle Challenge against the Western Michigan Broncos.  I had seen the Broncos play earlier against Georgetown and felt that UF would beat them easily.  However, I was very surprised to see this unranked team hanging with one of the best volleyball squads in the nation.  UF only won the first two sets 25-21, 25-22, respectively.  Western Michigan took the third set 30-28.  This was the first time in person I had seen the Florida Gators drop a set to anybody.  Fortunately for the Gators, Ziva Recek, the Slovakian sophomore, came to play that night.  She accounted for 23.5 points and had 21 kills.  The play of Recek helped propel the Gators to a 3-1 victory over the Broncos.  UF will take on instate rival Florida State this Tuesday.  FSU is ranked #17 in the country and should draw a big crowd for the game.  Regardless of who wins, it will be a great match between two premier schools in volleyball.  I can see this match going five sets. 

On a side note, after the volleyball game I headed on down to the theater to catch the most anticipated fight of the year: Saul "Canelo" Alvarez vs Floyd Mayweather.  Mayweather dominated Canelo for 12 rounds and reminded everyone why he might be the greatest boxer ever and certainly the best of this generation.  It will be interesting to see where Floyd Mayweather goes from here because I honestly believe he is just too good.  As for Canelo, he is only 23 years old and this is a fight he will certainly learn from.  He has a ton of potential and can be a real marquee boxer in a sport that is searching for a savior.  This was Canelo's first loss of his career, but Floyd's victory surprised some people simply because it was not a unanimous decision.  One of the three judges ruled it a draw and its instances like that make people, myself included, wonder about the integrity of boxing.  

Overall, it was a great day of sports for me and needless to say I was exhausted by the time Sunday dawned on Gainesville.

*Stats accredited to Gatorzone.com