GAINESVILLE, Fla. (Oct. 29, 2000) — Playing before its biggest crowd of the season, the Kentucky Wildcats volleyball team was unable to pull off the upset, losing to the 10th-ranked Florida Gators 3-0 on October 29, at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center.
UK (4-18, 2-9 SEC) had difficulty finding holes in the Gators defense as the Cats hit .092 for the match.
Florida was quick out of the gates in game one. The Gators took the first five points before a service ace by UK’s Aleisha Craven put the Cats on the scoreboard. Kentucky was unable to put together a run of points as UF earned a side-out then captured the next four points to take a 9-1 advantage.
Another service ace from UK began a small run of points for the Big Blue, cutting the UF lead to 9-4. However, that was a close at the Cats would get as the Gators won six of the final seven points to take game one 15-5.
Megan Weiskircher’s three kills, three digs and .429 hitting percentage led UK as the Cats hit .107 as a team in the first game.
UK captured the opening point of game two on a block by April Barnhorst and Kristen Batt, but the Gators quickly countered running off the next nine. Kentucky responded cutting UF’s lead to 10-5, but would only muster one more point as the Cats dropped game two 15-6.
Weiskircher continued lead UK in game two as she recorded a game-high tying five kills in addition to three digs and a .500 hitting percentage. UK’s team hitting improved to .147 in the second set.
The Gators were determined to end the match in the third game as they scored five of the opening six points. UK notched a second point on the board, but UF responded with five of their own to take a commanding 10-2 lead. The Gators went on to win game three 15-3 and sweep the match 3-0.
Weiskircher posted 11 kills and seven digs to lead UK in both categories. Freshman setter Kristi Kelley saw her first action since September 16 and recorded seven assists. Fellow freshman Brooke Dodson posted her season-high in aces with two.
UF (19-3, 11-0 SEC) was led by Aury Cruz who posted a match-high 14 kills, nine of which came during the first game. The Gators hit .375 for the match and remained unbeaten in SEC play.
