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Other UF Fall Sports

ocalaman

Bull Gator
Sep 4, 2002
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Most everyone is focused on football, But Gator volleyball & soccer have gotten underway and I enjoy both. So after their first 3 games, Mary Wise's #15 ranked volleyball team is 3-0, having beat North Florida 3-1, East Tennessee State 3-1 and Virginia 3-0. This is a re-vamped roster and here is a link that talked about this year's team. https://floridagators.com/news/2022...f-2022-campaign-with-gators-invitational.aspx
Sophomore Merritt Beason was named MVP of the invitational that just concluded. Syracuse senior transfer, born in Russia, Marina Markova, appears to be a really good outside hitter, and freshman Alexis Stuckey, from Wyoming, is going o be counted on to be the primary setter, replacing the 3 Monserez sisters who have been in that role for many years. The Gators will get tougher tests in their next 2 matches, as they host Stanford Tuesday at 7 pm (SEC Network) and then go to Minnesota on Sunday Sept. 4 (Big 10+ Network).

As for soccer, under new coach Samantha Bohon, who replaced the only soccer coach the Gators have ever had, Becky Burleigh, they are off to a 1-2 start and will probably lose Sunday afternoon at #2 Texas. Florida lost their opening match 3-0 at UCF, then beat Stetson 3-0 in Deland before losing to Baylor 2-1 in Austin Thursday. I watched that match and it was 0-0 at the half, Baylor went ahead early in the 2nd half and the Gators tied it with about 9 minutes left in the game, then allowed Baylor to score with 2 minutes left. Florida squandered a couple of easy goal chances and just don't seem to have the talent to be very good this year. Unfortunately, Burleigh left the cupboard pretty empty and it's going to take the new coach some time to convince higher quality players to come to Gainesville. Gator soccer dominated the SEC for a long time, but we have been bypassed by a lot of schools in the SEC and FSU has now become the dominant program in the state, as they have recently won 2 national titles and are a perennial Top 10 team.
 
Most everyone is focused on football, But Gator volleyball & soccer have gotten underway and I enjoy both. So after their first 3 games, Mary Wise's #15 ranked volleyball team is 3-0, having beat North Florida 3-1, East Tennessee State 3-1 and Virginia 3-0. This is a re-vamped roster and here is a link that talked about this year's team. https://floridagators.com/news/2022...f-2022-campaign-with-gators-invitational.aspx
Sophomore Merritt Beason was named MVP of the invitational that just concluded. Syracuse senior transfer, born in Russia, Marina Markova, appears to be a really good outside hitter, and freshman Alexis Stuckey, from Wyoming, is going o be counted on to be the primary setter, replacing the 3 Monserez sisters who have been in that role for many years. The Gators will get tougher tests in their next 2 matches, as they host Stanford Tuesday at 7 pm (SEC Network) and then go to Minnesota on Sunday Sept. 4 (Big 10+ Network).

As for soccer, under new coach Samantha Bohon, who replaced the only soccer coach the Gators have ever had, Becky Burleigh, they are off to a 1-2 start and will probably lose Sunday afternoon at #2 Texas. Florida lost their opening match 3-0 at UCF, then beat Stetson 3-0 in Deland before losing to Baylor 2-1 in Austin Thursday. I watched that match and it was 0-0 at the half, Baylor went ahead early in the 2nd half and the Gators tied it with about 9 minutes left in the game, then allowed Baylor to score with 2 minutes left. Florida squandered a couple of easy goal chances and just don't seem to have the talent to be very good this year. Unfortunately, Burleigh left the cupboard pretty empty and it's going to take the new coach some time to convince higher quality players to come to Gainesville. Gator soccer dominated the SEC for a long time, but we have been bypassed by a lot of schools in the SEC and FSU has now become the dominant program in the state, as they have recently won 2 national titles and are a perennial Top 10 team.
FWIW Tony Amato replaced Becky Burleigh last year and has since been fired and he was replaced by Bohon. And yes the cupboard is bare. I liked Burleigh but she pretty much was just coasting along the last few 4-5 years of her tenure.
 
Florida soccer lost to unranked Texas (I had previously said they were #2, but the newest D1 poll has them outside the Top 25) 3-2 in a tight match Sunday in Austin. Gators are 1-3 with a Thursday 6 pm match hosting USF, followed by a Sunday 5 pm match against #10 FSU. Both games are on SEC+.
Meanwhile, #13 Gator volleyball fell to 3-1 Tuesday night, dropping a tight 3-2 match to 3-0 #12 Stanford at home. Florida had several chances to win the opening set, but fell 31-29, then dropped the 2nd set 25-22. They rebounded to win the next 2 sets 25-16 & 25-22, then jumped out to a 6-1 lead in the 5th set before eventually losing it and the match 15-10. Both teams played sloppily at times, while looking very good other times. Stanford's hitting percentage was .206, UF's .171. Stanford had 64 kills to Florida's 52, with 16 blocks to UF's 13. Stanford committed 31 hitting errors to Florida's 28 and they had 58 assists to our 51. The Gators had 54 digs to their 47 and had 7 aces to their 4. Overall, a tight match that was fun to watch - the Gators just couldn't manufacture points at critical times, especially in the 1st and 5th sets.
UF's next game is at #4 Minnesota on Sunday at 1:30 PM on Big+ Network.
 
Both programs in a bit of rebuilding. The volleyball team rebuilding means top 25 vs top 10. Soccer is basically starting over..
 
UF soccer finished their pre-SEC schedule with a 2-5 record, losing Sunday afternoon at East Carolina 2-1. This is a major rebuilding project for our new coach, as the Gators have only played 1 ranked team so far, getting blown out by defending national champs FSU 5-0. Conference play starts Friday at 7 pm as UF hosts Tennessee.
Meanwhile, UF volleyball is 6-2, having lost to the 2 ranked teams they've played, Stanford & Minnesota. But they're on a 3-game winning streak, easily beating Georgia Southern, Florida Gulf Coast & VCU in straight 3-0 matches. Next up for the Gators is FSU, whom UF will host Thursday at 7 pm, with the game on ESPNU.
 
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Gator volleyball improved to 7-2 on ESPNU tonight with a 3-0 win over FSU, who dropped to 7-3. All 3 sets were tight and Florida had to come from behind in each set, but won down the stretch in each by scores of 25-19, 29-27 and 25-22. Freshman setter Alexis Stuckey had 41 assists, while Beason Merritt & Marina Markova led the attack with 13 & 12 kills respectively. The Gators hit .345 for the match while holding FSU to .186. This is probably not going to be a championship team for Mary Wise, as the Gators lost 5 seniors off last year's squad, 4 of the All Americans. But they brought in 5 good freshmen plus 3 transfers and are, as always, a competitive team who will be a tough out for anybody. Goooo Gators!!!
 
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Gator volleyball improved to 7-2 on ESPNU tonight with a 3-0 win over FSU, who dropped to 7-3. All 3 sets were tight and Florida had to come from behind in each set, but won down the stretch in each by scores of 25-19, 29-27 and 25-22. Freshman setter Alexis Stuckey had 41 assists, while Beason Merritt & Marina Markova led the attack with 13 & 12 kills respectively. The Gators hit .345 for the match while holding FSU to .186. This is probably not going to be a championship team for Mary Wise, as the Gators lost 5 seniors off last year's squad, 4 of the All Americans. But they brought in 5 good freshmen plus 3 transfers and are, as always, a competitive team who will be a tough out for anybody. Goooo Gators!!!
Always good to beat the nolies.
 
#16 UF Volleyball went to Madison, WI and in front of nearly 17,000 fans took down the defending national champs & #4 ranked Wisconsin Badgers 3-2 in a very exciting match that I watched on the BIG 10 Network. The Gators won the first 2 sets and had a 6 point lead midway through the 3rd set. They couldn't convert on 3 match points and eventually lost that set 28-26. They got blown out in the 4th set 25-13 and fell behind in the 5th set before rallying for a 15-13 win to clinch the match. The Gators showed a lot of tenacity and resilience, with Mary Wise's team improving to 8-2. Freshman Alexis Stuckey continued to impress, dishing out 45 assists, with sophomore star Merritt Beason leading the offense with 21 kills. UF starts SEC play Wednesday at 7 pm when they host Alabama.
Meanwhile, Gator soccer fell to 2-6 on the year, as they lost to defending conference champ Tennessee 2-1. 4 of Florida's losses have been by 1 goal, as they are showing improvement over the last couple of years but so far just can't win the close games.
 
Ocala sounds like the youngsters on the Volleyball team are starting to grow....that's a huge win.
 
I just hope that Mike White's replacement does a lot better than Dan's....

Now I'm REALLY looking forward to B-Ball season starting....
 
UF Volleyball opened SEC play Wednesday night by beating Alabama 3-0 in Gainesville, 25-19, 25-19, 25-17, improving their overall record to 9-2. The Gators hit. 321 for the match while holding Bama to .152. Florida had 33 assist on the night, with Alexis Stuckey getting 25 of those. UF had a balanced offensive attack, with Merritt Beason leadin the way with 9 kills, Sofia Victoria 8, Bre Kelley 6 & Gabi Essex 5. Next up is a Saturday/Sunday doubleheader at South Carolina, with both games at 2 pm on SEC+.
 
Gator soccer fell to 2-8, 0-3 in the SEC, with a 3-0 loss to Georgia Sunday afternoon. Florida has only played 2 ranked teams, #2 FSU & #10 Ole Miss, but have only scored 1 goal in their 3 SEC contests. Next up is a match at #13 South Carolina on Friday at 7 pm, weather permitting.
 
Meanwhile, UF Volleyball was the highest ranked SEC team going into this past weekend, at #12. Kentucky (#15) and Arkansas (#20) are the only other SEC teams in the current Top 25. Coming off a 3-2 win at then #4 Wisconsin in a match that featured the highest attendance of any regular season D1 Women's volleyball match in history, the Gators easily beat Alabama 3-0 last Wednesday and won a Saturday match at South Carolina 3-1. But Sunday's match against South Carolina saw the Gators play very poorly, blowing a 2-1 lead to fall 2-3 to the Gamecocks. On Saturday the Gators hit .373, with 57 kills, 6 services aces to 11 service errors, 12 blocks, 30 digs and 55 assists. But in Sunday's match, Florida hit only .190 with 51 kills, 5 service aces to 16 services errors, 20 blocks, 44 digs and 48 assists. So UF is now 10-3 overall, 2-1 in the SEC and are off until a Wednesday, October 5, 7 pm match at 8-7 Tennessee, televised on ESPN2. Over the weekend pf October 8 & 9 the Gators host 8-5 LSU, first on Saturday at 4 pm, then Sunday at 2 pm, both on SEC+. LSU beat ranked Arkansas 3-2 last week and split a doubleheader with Kentucky over the weekend.
 
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UF soccer played #22 South Carolina tough, but just can't get anything going offensively and lost 1-0 in Columbia Thursday night. Florida is now 2-9, 0-4 in the SEC. Brutal year unfolding.
 
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UF soccer played #22 South Carolina tough, but just can't get anything going offensively and lost 1-0 in Columbia Thursday night. Florida is now 2-9, 0-4 in the SEC. Brutal year unfolding.
It’s probably going to be brutal for a few years. Burleigh actually should have been fired or asked to step away a few years prior to her retiring as she stopped recruiting the last few years but she was given a pass due to how well she had done with the soccer program. She ever really did capitalize on the national championship that she won.
Then on top of that the Tony Amato situation hasn’t helped either as that was likely a wasted rebuild year so the new coach having to start from scratch again. I have played with Amato and know him and thought he would do well. I was surprised about the allegations that were brought against him and what he got fired for.
 
UF volleyball improved to 11-3, 3-1 with a 3-1 win in Knoxville over Tennessee. It was a very tight match carried on ESPNU in which the Gators won 26-24, 25-23, 16-25, 25-20. Florida continues to struggle with giving away points, committing 12 service errors and 20 attack errors. They only hit .275 compared to Tennessee's .304, but they got 50 assists, 44 dihs and 12 blocks, outperforming the Vols slightly in each category. They have to play cleaner if they want to become a Top 10 team and next face a tough LSU squad at home on Saturday at 6 pm and Sunday at 3 pm, both on SEC+.
 
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UF Soccer lost another 1 goal game, this time at home to Arkansas 1-0. The Gators only got off 2 shots on goal the entire match. They are now 2-10, 0-5 in the SEC and have only scored 1 goal in 5 SEC games. Embarrassing!!!
 
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UF Soccer lost another 1 goal game, this time at home to Arkansas 1-0. The Gators on got off 2 shots on goal the entire match. They are now 2-10, 0-5 in the SEC and have only scored 1 goal in 5 SEC games. Embarrassing!!!
Dang...coach has a lot of work to do
 
UF Soccer lost another 1 goal game, this time at home to Arkansas 1-0. The Gators on got off 2 shots on goal the entire match. They are now 2-10, 0-5 in the SEC and have only scored 1 goal in 5 SEC games. Embarrassing!!!
Foley didn’t AD his last several years. Should of kindly excused Becky Burleigh out sooner. Both of them had stopped doing their jobs their last few years. Then the Tony Amato fiasco happened and extended the rebuild another year. In addition to that I’m not exactly sold on the new woman’s coach either but we will see. Lazy hire IMO by Stricklin.
 
UF Soccer lost another 1 goal game, this time at home to Arkansas 1-0. The Gators only got off 2 shots on goal the entire match. They are now 2-10, 0-5 in the SEC and have only scored 1 goal in 5 SEC games. Embarrassing!!!
I understand playing a conservative, defensive game, but that is supposed to lead to the occasional counter attack. 2 shots on goal is sad.
 
I understand playing a conservative, defensive game, but that is supposed to lead to the occasional counter attack. 2 shots on goal is sad.
Yep - That's the worst offensive effort I can ever remember from Gator soccer. For the season, in 12 games we've scored 10 total goals with only 59 shots on goal and only 41 corner kicks. Really bad.
 
UF soccer dropped to 2-11, 0-6 in the SEC, as they lost Sunday afternoon at Missouri 3-2. They have 4 games left before the season, mercifully, ends. Whew!

Meanwhile, Mary Wise's volleyball team won 2 tough, exciting matches against LSU Saturday and Sunday, improving to 13-3 on the year, 5-1 in the SEC, tying Kentucky atop the conference standings. The gators started the week ranked #15, but a win at Tennessee and then the 2 wins hosting LSU could move them up when the new rankings come out Monday. Against LSU on Saturday, the Gators won 25-18, 23-25, 25-19 & 27-25. Merritt Beason ^ Marina Markova had 15 kills each and Sofia Victoria had 13. Ellie McKissock had 21 digs, Beason 11, while Alexis Stuckey had 44 assists. They did have 16 services errors and 16 attack errors for the match, but hit .279 as a team and held LSU to .124.
Sunday's match was even tighter, with UF winning25-18, 26-24, 25-27, 21-25, 15-9. One of their better player, Bre Kelley, left after the 2nd set with an apparent injury and it took the Gators a while to adjust to her absence from the rotation. Florida hit .213 for the match while holding LSU to .168. They only had 10 service errors in the 5 sets, but had 29 attack errors, although LSU had 31. The Gators won the digs battle 79-74 and had 16 blocks to LSU's 11. Freshman Alexis Stuckey, already one of the best passers in the nation, set a personal best with 56 of the Gators' 63 assists for the day. Beason Merritt recorded 21 kills, 9 digs and 8 blocks, hitting .291. Sofia Victoria had 16 assists and 8 digs, hitting .324. Marina Markova had 14 kills and 4 blocks, but only hit .061, while Gabbi Essex had 12 kills and 10 blocks, hitting .417.
Florida travels to Mississippi State for a Friday match at 9 pm on the SEC network and then a Saturday 5 pm match on SEC+. The Bulldogs are 11-5, 4-2 in the SEC and just swept Texas A&M this weekend.
 
UF soccer dropped to 2-11, 0-6 in the SEC, as they lost Sunday afternoon at Missouri 3-2. They have 4 games left before the season, mercifully, ends. Whew!

Meanwhile, Mary Wise's volleyball team won 2 tough, exciting matches against LSU Saturday and Sunday, improving to 13-3 on the year, 5-1 in the SEC, tying Kentucky atop the conference standings. The gators started the week ranked #15, but a win at Tennessee and then the 2 wins hosting LSU could move them up when the new rankings come out Monday. Against LSU on Saturday, the Gators won 25-18, 23-25, 25-19 & 27-25. Merritt Beason ^ Marina Markova had 15 kills each and Sofia Victoria had 13. Ellie McKissock had 21 digs, Beason 11, while Alexis Stuckey had 44 assists. They did have 16 services errors and 16 attack errors for the match, but hit .279 as a team and held LSU to .124.
Sunday's match was even tighter, with UF winning25-18, 26-24, 25-27, 21-25, 15-9. One of their better player, Bre Kelley, left after the 2nd set with an apparent injury and it took the Gators a while to adjust to her absence from the rotation. Florida hit .213 for the match while holding LSU to .168. They only had 10 service errors in the 5 sets, but had 29 attack errors, although LSU had 31. The Gators won the digs battle 79-74 and had 16 blocks to LSU's 11. Freshman Alexis Stuckey, already one of the best passers in the nation, set a personal best with 56 of the Gators' 63 assists for the day. Beason Merritt recorded 21 kills, 9 digs and 8 blocks, hitting .291. Sofia Victoria had 16 assists and 8 digs, hitting .324. Marina Markova had 14 kills and 4 blocks, but only hit .061, while Gabbi Essex had 12 kills and 10 blocks, hitting .417.
Florida travels to Mississippi State for a Friday match at 9 pm on the SEC network and then a Saturday 5 pm match on SEC+. The Bulldogs are 11-5, 4-2 in the SEC and just swept Texas A&M this weekend.
Ocala how many 1 goal losses is that for the ladies? Feels like they are in almost every match.
 
I gotta get this thread up there with the football discussions to give ya'll something positive to talk about. Gator volleyball won 2 matches at Mississippi State Friday & Saturday, winning both 3-0, although the sets were tougher than the final scores appear. State came into the match in 4th place in the SEC. Friday night UF won 25-18, 25-22 and 25-19. They outhit Miss. State .310 - .022 and dominated in kills, blocks and digs. Service errors and attack errors made the match closer than it should have been, but still a solid win. On Saturday, the Gators played a cleaner match, winning 25-19, 25-19 and 25-22. They outhit the Bulldogs .347 - .178 and won the kills, assists and digs battles, but Miss. State won the battle of blocks. UF served well, with only 7 errors and they cut down on attack errors. Florida sits at 15-3, 7-1 in the SEC, with their next match hosting Georgia (12-5, 3-3) Wednesday night at 7 pm on SEC+. This is a fun team to watch and for those who don't watch D1 women's volleyball, I highly recommend it. These ladies are very athletic.
 
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I gotta get this thread up there with the football discussions to give ya'll something positive to talk about. Gator volleyball won 2 matches at Mississippi State Friday & Saturday, winning both 3-0, although the sets were tougher than the final scores appear. State came into the match in 4th place in the SEC. Friday night UF won 25-18, 25-22 and 25-19. They outhit Miss. State .310 - .022 and dominated in kills, blocks and digs. Service errors and attack errors made the match closer than it should have been, but still a solid win. On Saturday, the Gators played a cleaner match, winning 25-19, 25-19 and 25-22. They outhit the Bulldogs .347 - .178 and won the kills, assists and digs battles, but Miss. State won the battle of blocks. UF served well, with only 7 errors and they cut down on attack errors. Florida sits at 15-3, 7-1 in the SEC, with their next match hosting Georgia (12-5, 3-3) Wednesday night at 7 pm on SEC+. This is a fun team to watch and for those who don't watch D1 women's volleyball, I highly recommend it. These ladies are very athletic.
Thanks for the update.
 
I gotta get this thread up there with the football discussions to give ya'll something positive to talk about. Gator volleyball won 2 matches at Mississippi State Friday & Saturday, winning both 3-0, although the sets were tougher than the final scores appear. State came into the match in 4th place in the SEC. Friday night UF won 25-18, 25-22 and 25-19. They outhit Miss. State .310 - .022 and dominated in kills, blocks and digs. Service errors and attack errors made the match closer than it should have been, but still a solid win. On Saturday, the Gators played a cleaner match, winning 25-19, 25-19 and 25-22. They outhit the Bulldogs .347 - .178 and won the kills, assists and digs battles, but Miss. State won the battle of blocks. UF served well, with only 7 errors and they cut down on attack errors. Florida sits at 15-3, 7-1 in the SEC, with their next match hosting Georgia (12-5, 3-3) Wednesday night at 7 pm on SEC+. This is a fun team to watch and for those who don't watch D1 women's volleyball, I highly recommend it. These ladies are very athletic.
Mary Wise does an outstanding job. Young group but she has them in the thick of things.
 
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UF soccer "improved" to 2-11-1, 0-6-1 in the SEC with a 1-1 tie with Kentucky (7-7-1, 0-6-1) in Lexington Sunday afternoon. The Gators scored in the first half, but gave up the tying goal with 10 minutes left in the game and almost gave up the winning goal in the last 30 seconds, but Kentucky couldn't convert on a free kick. For some unknown reason, this game between SEC bottom dwellers was televised on ESPNU.
 
UF soccer "improved" to 2-11-1, 0-6-1 in the SEC with a 1-1 tie with Kentucky (7-7-1, 0-6-1) in Lexington Sunday afternoon. The Gators scored in the first half, but gave up the tying goal with 10 minutes left in the game and almost gave up the winning goal in the last 30 seconds, but Kentucky couldn't convert on a free kick. For some unknown reason, this game between SEC bottom dwellers was televised on ESPNU.
There is probably an agreement that every team get on TV at least once, and this way killed two birds with one stone.
 
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Gator volleyball couldn't handle the prosperity of moving up to 11th in the latest national rankings, as they dropped a 3-0 match to Georgia Wednesday night at home. Florida played their worst match of the year, hitting only .090, committing 26 hitting errors, also losing the battle of kills, digs and blocks. The set scores were 25-22, 25-23 and 25-20. Georgia improved to 13-5, 4-3, while Florida dropped to 15-4, 7-2. The Gators are off until next Wednesday, when they travel to Auburn, currently 17-2, 6-2.
 
UF soccer continued their miserable season by falling to visiting Vanderbilt Thursday night 5-2. Florida is 2-12-1, 0-7-1 in the SEC with 2 remaining matches. Sunday 7 pm at #3 Alabama and Thursday 10/27 hosting Texas A&M. Our coach Samantha Bohon 15 years of high achieving success at Embry-Riddle both at the NAIA and NCAA Div. II levels, but she has a lot of work to do in building this gator program back to respectability.
 
UF soccer continued their miserable season by falling to visiting Vanderbilt Thursday night 5-2. Florida is 2-12-1, 0-7-1 in the SEC with 2 remaining matches. Sunday 7 pm at #3 Alabama and Thursday 10/27 hosting Texas A&M. Our coach Samantha Bohon 15 years of high achieving success at Embry-Riddle both at the NAIA and NCAA Div. II levels, but she has a lot of work to do in building this gator program back to respectability.
IMO she was a bad hire like so many of our other hires our current AD has made but she deserves some time because she took over a train wreck.
 
UF soccer fell to 0-8-1 in the SEC, 2-13-1 overall with a 2-0 loss at #3 Alabama. 1 more game left to end this miserable season. "Nuff said.
 
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