Gators vs. Freeze

by Coach Dahl

 

The Gators didn’t have enough manpower to compete with a much improved Freeze volleyball team.  Although the Gators had edged out the Freeze early in the season, the Freeze were gunning on all cylinders.  Set 1 set the tone for the night as the Freeze served tough and kept the Gators scrambling out of system.   The Gators hung with them early on, but Freeze hitters kept pounding balls at the Gator defense, and though Freeze servers missed 4 serves, their servers picked apart the serve receive.  The Gators fell 17-25.  Set two was similar as the Gators could ever get any flow established and the Freeze defense outhustled the Gators and made big plays.  With only 7 kills in the set, the Gator hitters had to find a way to be effective, and the defense had to make stops against the Freeze attack.  The Gators had an 18-15 edge as they rallied toward the home stretch; however, they couldn’t get it done.  Freeze hitters responded and pounded the ball in the court to close it out.  The Gators lost 20-25.  Down 0-2, set 3 was do or die for the Gators.  Finally, Gator hitters started finding holes in the defense.  Emily Anderson and Carly Mekash had 4 kills in the set, which was already more than the first two sets.  Amy Svir got a couple kills and came up with a big block to aid the Gator cause as well.  Gator servers had a few out of system serves, but clearly weren’t as effective as the first meeting between these two teams.  The Gators had the Freeze on the ropes 24-22 but they needed to shut the door.  The Freeze battled to steal the win, but Anderson and Mekash came up with two big kills to triumph 26-24.   The Gators started finding more of the passing well in set 4, but again, the scrappy Freeze defense never gave up. They outlasted the Gators on several volleys, and the Gators never found a way to score more than 1 point compared to the Freeze scoring 2 or more every possession.  The Gators fell 16-25.

Emily Anderson had 9 kills, 9 digs, and 2 aces on the night; Carly Mekash scored 9 kills too.  Megan Larson had 4 kills to help the Gator effort, and Amy Svir cashed in 4 kills and 2 blocks.  Brenna Dallager and Alyssa Kilen had 13 and 6 respective assists.  Makenna Burslie had 6 digs in her varsity debut.

In a momentum game, the Gators have to find a way to serve more and pass less to keep momentum their side.  Serve receive passing has been a continual struggle this year and makes it much harder to get quality swings against good defensive teams.  October gets to be a grind, and the Gators need to continue to be focused and ready to compete.  Teams often improve greatly throughout the season, and the Gators need to make solid strides in their game as well.  “Win this ball” and 25 doesn’t seem out of reach.  With few regular season games left, tournament time will be here shortly.  Let’s rise above all obstacles and finish what we started.  Goooooo Gators!