Alec Rothe Breaks School Record En Route to Gators Sweep vs. Troy

No. 10 Florida volleyball continued its winning streak Sunday, sweeping Troy 25-20, 25-14, 25-16 for its fifth straight victory.

The Gators dominated the net in the match, hitting .489 with just four attacking errors. Florida also held a 10-1 advantage in blocks and limited Troy to a .204 hitting percentage.

Middle blockers Alec Rothe and Brooklyn Briscoe led the offensive effort for the Gators. Briscoe recorded a team-high 11 kills on 14 attacks, while Rothe finished with 10 kills on 11 swings. Rothe also led the team with six blocks.

For Rothe, the performance also put her name at the top of the program record book.

Her .909 hitting percentage set a Florida single-match record, surpassing Chloe Mann’s .900 mark against LSU in 2011. Rothe committed no attacking errors on 11 swings.

Briscoe was nearly as efficient, hitting .714 as the pair combined for 21 of Florida’s 48 kills.

“I feel great, that was just so much fun,” Rothe said. “We work so hard off the court to make moments like this happen and it’s truly a team effort.”

Setter Taylor Parks helped make that efficiency possible. She finished with 36 assists, four kills, two service aces and eight digs.

“Taylor played a really good match,” head coach Ryan Theis said. “She gave out a lot of green lights and good situations to kill out there today.”

Florida established its advantage at the net in the opening set, hitting .652 with four blocks while holding Troy to .192.

Service errors helped keep the Trojans close. Florida committed three in the frame, while Troy added three aces.

The Trojans pulled within 21-19, but Florida’s front row closed out the 25-20 win.

“We are an aggressive serving team in general,” Theis said. “We would love to be around two misses per set, but we are averaging more like three. So if we could flip one of those around that would be good, missing is okay, just not too many.”

The second set was when the Gators started to break away.

Kamryn Chaney immediately opened with a kill and then combined with Rothe for a block as the Gators jumped ahead 3-0 and forced an early Troy timeout.

Florida continued to spread the offense through Chaney, Logan King, Rothe and Briscoe on its way to a 25-14 win. Madi Gravlee also made her first appearance of the season and recorded her first kill.

Troy responded early in the third, taking a 2-0 lead before battling Florida to a 7-7 tie.

King then took over offensively, recording six of her 10 kills in the final set.

Middle blocker Brianna Holladay also made her first appearance of the season. She quickly contributed a block assist with Chaney before recording a kill to bring Florida to set point.

“Brianna Holladay is such a light in our locker room,” Rothe said. “To see her get an opportunity to step onto the floor, we were super excited, and it was the same reaction with Madi Gravlee.”

Florida turned the 7-7 tie into a 19-12 advantage and never let Troy back into the set. Parks finished the sweep with a service ace on match point to secure the 25-16 victory.

The Gators will have a few days off before traveling to Tallahassee to face Florida State on Friday at 7 p.m. The match will air on ACC Network.

“One thing Ryan always talks about is that our most important game is always our next game,” Rothe said. “Now that I’m a Florida Gator, this rivalry means a lot to me. I’m excited, it is always a fun game, and I’m excited to compete.”

Category: Gator Sports, Gators Volleyball