Mississippi State
Florida
No. 5 Gators Power Past Bulldogs
September 25, 2009 | Volleyball
- Official Statistics
- Official Statistics (PDF)
GAINESVILLE, Fla. - The fifth-ranked Florida Gators protected their unblemished season SEC and all-time MSU series record Friday night before 2,725 fans at the O'Connell Center, registering a straight-sets win over the Bulldogs. Florida (9-1, 3-0 SEC) topped MSU (4-10, 0-3 SEC) 25-12, 25-14, 25-18 for its 35th win in the series.
Junior Ashley Newsome and sophomore Caitlin Rance shared top honors on the attack for Mississippi State. Newsome tallied seven kills and a match-leading three blocks, while Rance compiled her seven kills on a .263 hitting night.
"Florida has great tradition and the O'Connell Center can be an intimidating place to play," said Bulldog head coach Jenny Hazelwood. "I'm pleased with the way we picked up our play as the match went on and were competitive with the SEC's highest-ranked team in that third set. That's the kind of play we're looking to have on a consistent basis and the kind of play we need to have in Sunday's TV match at South Carolina.".
Florida built out a 52-25 edge in kills and out-hit the Bulldogs for the night, .390 to .135. Kelly Murphy hit .476 with a match-high 12 kills and Colleen Ward added 11. UF's balanced attack also included nine kills by Callie Rivers and eight more by Cassandra Anderson. Murphy added 28 assists to register the match's only double-double.
Florida pulled away from a 4-4 tie in the opening set with an 8-1 scoring spree, hitting at a match-best .419 rate to take the opening stanza 25-12. State stayed close with the fifth-ranked Gators in the second set. A Ioana Demian kill and a pair of UF attack errors pulled State to within a point at 11-10, but Florida out-pointed MSU 14-4 the rest of the way for a 25-14 win and a 2-0 lead at the break.
State's best showing of the match came in the final set. After tallying just 12 kills combined in the first two sets, State registered 13 and hit .229. Back-to-back kills by Newsome helped the Bulldogs close to within two at 18-16 and forced the Gators to call their lone timeout of the evening. But the Bulldogs managed but two kills the remainder of the set, one of those by senior and Florida native Dorey Gray, as the Gators closed out the match with a 25-18 decision.
Kayla Woodard paced MSU on defense with nine digs while Demian and Rance added a pair of blocks each.
The Bulldogs continue their initial SEC road trip of the 2009 campaign Sunday in Columbia, S.C., taking on South Carolina (9-3, 1-2 SEC) in a 2 p.m. (CT) match televised live regionally on FOX Sports Net South. The Gamecocks dropped a five-set thriller on the home court to Alabama (23-25, 25-14, 25-18, 24-26, 9-15).
