Florida Gators setter Taylor Parks (20) prepares to serve in a NCAA volleyball match against Oklahoma on Oct. 22, 2025 at the O’Connell Center. [Noah Lantor/WRUF]

Gators Volleyball Comeback Falls Short At South Carolina

Road-match struggles continued Sunday for Florida volleyball at Columbia, S.C., in a 3-1 loss to the Gamecocks.

The No. 25 Gators (13-8, 8-4 SEC) looked to close out their three-game road trip by facing South Carolina (9-13, 3-9) after wins at Arkansas and Georgia over the past week.

Yet, the day did not go as planned inside the Carolina Volleyball Center. Losing the first two sets (22-25, 23-25), the Gators then bounced back to take the third (25-18), but coach Ryan Theis’ team efforts were not enough to finish the rally.

The Gators ended up losing the fourth set (24-26). The storyline was not that the Gators had four different players with double-digit kills, but that they had a season-high 15 service errors.

“Errors caught up with us today, both from a serve-and-attacking perspective. South Carolina played a much cleaner match,” Theis said.

The service line this season has been one of the biggest concerns for the Gators. In the last five matches, UF is averaging 8.2 service errors per game.

Despite having solid offensive performances by middle blocker Alec Rothe and Jordyn Byrd with 13 kills in the match, it was not enough for Florida.

Next up for the Gators is what may be the meeting of the season when they welcome No. 2 Texas (18-2, 10-2) on Friday for a 7 p.m. match in the O’Connell Center (SEC Network, ESPN 98.1-FM/850-AM WRUF).

Category: Gator Sports, Gators Volleyball, NCAA, SEC, Volleyball