UF volleyball opens tourney with win

The Gators continued their in-state success Friday with a 3-0 win against Jacksonville on the opening day of the Campus USA Credit Union Invitational in the Stephen C. O'Connell Center.

No. 8/9 Florida recorded its highest team hitting percentage (.521) since Sept. 28, 2003, in the 25-18, 25-18, 25-14 victory.

Florida (3-0), which was facing the Dolphins (2-2) for the first time since the 2005 season, improved to 106-20 (.840) all-time against in-state foes and 58-2 (.966) in the Mary Wise era. The Gators are a perfect 14-0 all-time vs. Jacksonville and have not dropped a match to an in-state rival since 1994.

Four Florida players hit .500 or better in the match and the Gators outhit the Dolphins .521-.137. A balanced offensive display ensured that five Florida players registered eight or more kills in the match.

Junior middle blocker Kristina Johnson and freshman right-side/setter Kelly Murphy each recorded a match-high nine kills. Johnson's nine put-downs came on a career-best .818 hitting (min. 10 attempts) with two blocks. Murphy hit a career-best .727 with 13 assists and three digs.

"We did have a matchup advantage tonight and that's why the game-plan was designed to get Kristina Johnson some swings," Wise said. "She took advantage of them. When Elyse Cusack is anchoring our serve-receive, our setters have lots of choices. What I love about it is, there was such good distribution tonight."

Freshman setter Cindy Bathelt dished out a career-high and a match-high 23 assists to complement a career-best two service aces. Junior libero Elyse Cusack, the Southeastern Conference's leader in service aces, recorded three aces in the match and came up with a match-high 15 digs. Cusack has served at least three aces in each of the team's first three matches this season.

Redshirt freshman outside hitter/right-side Kristy Jaeckel, the reigning SEC Freshman of the Week, finished with eight kills on .312 hitting with four digs.