Kansas lines up after the match while Florida celebrates during the second round of the NCAA Division 1 Women’s Volleyball Championship at Horejsi Family Volleyball Arena in Lawrence, Kan., on Dec. 7, 2024. [The Topeka Capital-Journal]

Florida’s Five Keys to Succeed in NCAA Volleyball Tournament

Unseeded Florida volleyball begins its time in the NCAA Tournament on Friday by facing seventh-seed Rice. Here are the five keys for the Gators to advance to face the winner of two-seed SMU (25-5) and Central Arkansas (18-11) in the second round at 8 p.m. Saturday.

Limit Offensive Errors

Committing 546 attack errors as a team, the Gators (15-11) have a team hitting percentage of 24%, which is just inside the top 100 in the NCAA. Florida put up its second-most errors (31) in the four-set loss to Tennessee in the quarterfinal of the SEC Tournament, recording 62 kills to mark 18% in hitting.

Rice (21-9) holds teams to 19% in hitting. Errors often lead to the Gators’ defeat, and this is the top key to success for them in the NCAA Tournament.

Byrd Dominance

One player who especially needs to be productive against the Owls is Texas transfer Jordyn Byrd.

Florida’s top hitter, she leads with 393 kills, including 39 between the two matches in the SEC Tournament. When opponents read her well on the outside, Byrd can put up as few as eight kills, most recently in the 3-0 loss to Texas A&M on Nov. 12.

Teams find success against the Gators when Byrd is limited to a low efficiency. She recorded just an 0.175 hitting percentage against the Volunteers, but she hit 36% in the sweep against Alabama.

Stucky Assists

Setter Alexis Stucky, a redshirt junior, sits at ninth in Florida volleyball history with 2,966 career assists. She hit the 2,000 mark on Aug. 22 when the Gators faced Stanford to open the season.

She has the opportunity to notch 3,000 if she puts up her average of 35 per match against the Owls. She will also achieve her second 1,000 assist season, her first since her freshman year in 2022.

Stucky dominates with assists, acting like the quarterback of the court. She sets up her middles and hitters with limited error, marking just 17 all season.

Serving Ratio

While first-year coach Ryan Theis emphasized the importance of serving all season, the Gators have significantly more errors than aces from behind the line. Florida has 246 errors and just 132 aces, which is 280th in the NCAA.

Theis also acknowledged earlier this season that as close to a 1-1 ratio as possible makes for a good day in serving, a mark the Gators last hit on Oct. 22 against Oklahoma when they recorded six aces and six errors. Against the Volunteers, Florida put up 11 service errors and just three aces.

Side Out Percentage

Looking deeper into serving, another area where Florida has seen ups and downs this season is side-out percentage. This statistic represents how often a team wins a rally when the opponent is serving.

The Gators recorded 58.4% against the Volunteers in the SEC Tournament, compared to a strong 67.9% against the Tide. Florida recorded 104 errors on the receive this season, which is something that Theis says his team continues to do strongly and something that the Gators will need to limit against Rice.

Of note: Florida’s region of the bracket is part of the larger quadrant highlighted by No. 1 seed Pittsburgh, with Minnesota (4), Iowa State (5), Xavier (8), Purdue (3) and Baylor (6) also in the region. Florida extends its streak to 35-consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances, the third-longest active streak in the nation (Penn State 45, Nebraska 44).

First serve between Florida and the Owls is set for 5 p.m. ET inside Moody Coliseum in Dallas (ESPN+). Saturday’s winners advance to next week’s third round.

Category: Gator Sports, Gators Volleyball