Auburn volleyball looks to steal its first ranked win of the season against the No. 20 Florida Gators in Gainesville, Florida, on Wednesday night.
The Tigers are coming off a sweep-loss from South Carolina to have a current SEC record of 5-9 and an overall record of 13-11. Auburn collected a team .206 hitting percentage with 12 attack errors and 10 service errors in the loss to the Gamecocks.
However, some players stood out in the matchup, such as senior outside hitter Val Green and senior middle blocker Tatum Shipes. Green had the second-highest kill total for Auburn with eight for a .333 hitting percentage across the match as well as collecting two blocks. Shipes was also one of the more productive players on the front row as she totalled seven kills for a team-high .667 hitting percentage and a team-high four blocks.
The Tigers still hold some of the best defensive stats in the conference. They rank first in opponent hitting percentage (.153) and average digs per set (16.42). Auburn also ranks fourth in the SEC in average blocks per set with 2.59.
Scouting Florida
The Gators have consistently been one of the heavyweights coming out of the SEC conference. They have consistently ranked in the top five in the SEC in each statistical category to create a strong team that is hard to defeat. Currently ranked No. 20 in the country in the latest poll, Florida is once again expected to make it far in this year’s volleyball postseason.
Florida swept its last SEC series against the Arkansas Razorbacks, raising its conference record to 11-2 and overall record to 17-6. It also extended its winning streak to six matches. Several players stood out in those matches that will be pivotal in the upcoming match.
T’Ara Ceasar, the reigning SEC Offensive Player of the Week, went on a tear against the Razorbacks. She received the same honors earlier in the season to add to her total accolades. In the first set against Arkansas, Caesar hit a career-high .552 hitting percentage to proceed a .346 average in the second match. Caesar also totalled 23 kills in the second set to add to her 17 kills in the first set.
Setter Marlie Monserez has also been padding the stats in her senior season. Having earned SEC Setter of the Week honors four times this season, Monserez has been a big part of the strong Florida offense. She totalled 90 assists across two matches, as well as nine blocks against Arkansas.
Freshman Merritt Beason has been a nice addition to the Gator offense this season. Earning SEC Freshman of the Week honors twice this season, the outside/right-side hitter has also been producing defensively. Although Beason did not have the best showing in the last match against Arkansas, hitting .138 and collecting three blocks, the freshman did total 17 digs to help out defensively.
Keys to the Match
Auburn needs to eliminate the service and kill errors as well as clean up in serve-receive. A well-controlled offense combined with its steady defense will make a competitive match. The front row needs to find the floor with their hits as well as come up big defensively.
Florida has not really showcased any obvious weaknesses so far this season, but it needs to lower the service and attack errors as well as continue to dominate at the net. The Gators need to look to shut down any sign of an Auburn offensive attack as well as put pressure on the Tigers at the service line.
The Tigers will take on the Gators in this highly-anticipated matchup on Wednesday, Oct. 17th. The match will begin at 6 p.m. CST and will be streamed on SEC Network-plus.
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Emily Porch is a senior from Sylacauga, Alabama. She joined The Plainsman in fall 2021.
Twitter: @emilycporch
