The Florida Gators women's volleyball team represents the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...

in the sport of

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Sum ...

. The Gators compete in Division I of the

National Collegiate Athletics Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges and ...

(NCAA) and the

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities o ...

(SEC). The Gators play their home matches in the

O'Connell Center The Stephen C. O'Connell Center, also known as the O'Dome, is a 10,500-seat multi-purpose arena located on the University of Florida campus in Gainesville, Florida. The facility is named for the sixth president of the university, Stephen C. O' ...

on the university's

Gainesville, Florida Gainesville is the county seat of Alachua County, Florida, and the largest city in North Central Florida, with a population of 141,085 in 2020. It is the principal city of the Gainesville metropolitan area, which had a population of 339,247 in ...

campus, and are currently led by head coach Mary Wise.

History

The University of Florida's athletic department, the

University Athletic Association The University Athletic Association (UAA) is an American athletic conference that competes in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) Division III. Member schools are highly selective universities located in Georgia, Illinois, M ...

, authorized the first intercollegiate varsity women's volleyball team to begin play in the fall of 1984. Marilyn McReavy was the Gators' first head coach, and she led the Gators volleyball team for seven seasons from 1984 to 1990. McReavy's Gators compiled an overall win–loss record of 156–100 (.609), and a

(SEC) record of 26–20 (.565). Her best SEC finish was second place in 1988, and her 1987 team was the only one that qualified for the NCAA tournament. McReavy resigned after a 15–16 performance in 1990. Coach Mary Wise was hired to replace Marilyn McReavy in 1991. In their first year under Wise, the Gators won the SEC regular season championship, sharing it with the

LSU Tigers The LSU Tigers and Lady Tigers are the athletic teams representing Louisiana State University (LSU), a state university located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. LSU competes in NCAA Division I, Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Associat ...

volleyball team. In 1992, Florida made its first ever NCAA Final Four appearance, where they lost in the semifinals to eventual national runner-up

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...

15–12, 15–12, 15–10. In 1993, Wise became the first Division I female head coach to guide her team to more than one final four. In 1996, the Gators made their trip to their third final four in five years, losing to

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

in the semifinals. Wise was named the

American Volleyball Coaches Association The American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) is an organization of over 6,000 members, incorporated as a private non-profit educational corporation in 1981, as the Collegiate Volleyball Coaches Association. It is currently headquartered in ...

(AVCA) Division I National Coach of the Year. In 1997, the Gators appeared in the final four once again, being swept by Penn State in the semifinals. The roster consisted of a young squad, only have three seniors on the team. The Gators made their third consecutive final four in 1998, where they again lost in the semifinals, to eventual national champion and undefeated

Long Beach State California State University, Long Beach (CSULB) is a public research university in Long Beach, California. The 322-acre campus is the second largest of the 23-school California State University system (CSU) and one of the largest universities ...

, 15–2, 15–8, 15–10. In 2002, Florida made their first final four appearance since 1998, defeating

Temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called churches), Hinduism (whose temples ...

in the Sweet 16 and Penn State in the Elite Eight, before falling to eventual national champion

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most populous urban ...

in the semifinals. After being 0-for-6 in previous NCAA Final Four semifinals, Florida broke through in 2003, by defeating Hawaii in the semis, 30–28, 30–28, 23–30, 30–28. Appearing in their first NCAA title match in school history, the Gators lost to undefeated Southern California in four sets, 25–30, 30–27, 30–19, 30–26. Wise became the first Division I female coach to coach in a championship match. In addition, Florida set a then-NCAA record of 105 straight games won during the 2003 season. The Florida Gators opened the 2017 beating #1 Texas and #5 Nebraska in the opening weekend. They would eventually become the #1 ranked team...their first since 2010. The Gators finished the season 30-2 and reached their second final...falling to Nebraska 3–1.

Rhamat Alhassan Rhamat Alhassan (born September 7, 1996) is a volleyball player who played collegiately for Florida. Early life Alhassan grew up in Glenarden, Maryland. She started playing basketball in seventh grade, and did not play volleyball until her soph ...

(1st Team), Carli Snyder (2nd Team), Shainah Joseph (2nd Team), and Rachael Kramer (3rd Team) would give Florida their highest total class of All-Americans in a single year in school history. Additionally, Mary Wise garnered the 2017 AVCA Coach of the Year for her third time....the second highest total in the award's history.

Year-by-year results

Southeastern Conference

Southeastern Conference Players of the Year

Florida has 12 players selected SEC player of the year for a total of 18 awards. *Gudula Staub, 1992 *Aycan Gokberk, 1993, 1995 *Jenny Wood, 1996 *Nina Foster, 1997 *Jenny Manz, 1998, 1999 *Nicole McCray, 2000 *Aury Cruz, 2001, 2002, 2003 *Jane Collymore, 2004, 2005 *Angie McGinnis, 2006, 2007 *Kelly Murphy, 2010 *Chloe Mann, 2012 *Alex Holston, 2014 *Rhamat Alhassan, 2017

Southeastern Conference Freshman of the Year

Florida has 5 recipients of the Freshman of the Year award. *Aury Cruz, 2000 *Angie McGinnis, 2004 *Kelly Murphy, 2008 *Ziva Recek, 2012 *Rhamat Alhassan, 2014

Southeastern Conference Libero of the Year

Florida has 1 recipient of the Libero of the Year award. The award for Libero of the Year began in 2009. *Taylor Unroe, 2013

Southeastern Conference Coach of the Year

Florida has 1 recipient of the Coach of the Year award for a total of 11 awards. *Mary Wise, 1995, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2007, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2017

Southeastern Conference Scholar Athlete of the Year

Florida has 3 recipients of the Scholar Athlete of the Year award. The award for Scholar Athlete of the Year began in 2003 *Kelsey Bowers, 2008 *Kristy Jaeckel, 2011 *Holly Pole, 2014

Southeastern Conference Defensive Player of the Year

Florida has 1 recipient of the Defensive Player of the Year award. The award for Defensive Player of the Year began in 2003 and ended in 2008 *Elyse Cusack, 2006

American Volleyball Coaches Association

All-Americans

Florida has 32 AVCA All-America selections, tenth all-time in NCAA Division I, and 13 First Team selections, tied for tenth all-time. *Heidi Anderson, 1992 *Rhamat Alhassan, 2015, 2017 *Lauren Bledsoe, 2010 *T'ara Ceasar, 2020 *Jane Collymore, 2004, 2005 *Aury Cruz, 2001, 2002, 2003 *Erin Fleming, 2010 *Lauren Forte, 2020 *Nina Foster, 1997 *Aycan Gokberk, 1993, 1995 *Marcie Hampton, 2007 *Benavia Jenkins, 2001, 2002, 2003 *Shainah Joseph, 2017 *Jenny Manz, 1998, 1999 *Amber McCray, 2006 *Nicole McCray, 2002 *Angie McGinnis, 2005, 2006, 2007 *Ashley Mullis, 1995 *Kelly Murphy, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 *Callie Rivers, 2010 *Aurymar Rodriguez, 1996 *Jennifer Sanchez, 1998 *Carli Snyder, 2017 *Gudula Staub, 1991, 1992 *Sherri Williams, 2003 *Jenny Wood, 1996

National awards

Major awards

*Mary Wise, National Coach of the Year: 1992, 1996, 2017 *Kelly Murphy, National Freshman of the Year: 2008 *Ziva Recek, National Freshman of the Year: 2012

Player of the Week

Nine players have earned twelve AVCA Division I National Player of the Week award: *Aycan Gokberk (Sept. 11, 1995 and Oct. 30, 1995) *Nina Foster (Sept. 1, 1997) *Jenny Manz (Sept. 7, 1998) *Heather Wright (Nov. 23, 1998) *Nicole McCray (Sept. 4, 2000) *Elyse Cusack (Nov. 6, 2006) *

Kelly Murphy Kelly Murphy is an American author, illustrator and educator. She is based in Providence, Rhode Island. Early life Murphy was born in Boston, Massachusetts and raised in southeastern Massachusetts. She attended the Rhode Island School of Design ...

(Sept. 30, 2008; Aug. 21, 2010; and Sept. 20 2011) *Kristy Jaeckel (Oct. 4, 2011) *

(Sept. 16, 2014)Rhamat Alhassan: National Player of the Week
" AVCA. * Rachael Kramer (Aug. 29th, 2017)

References

External links

* {{Florida Gators athletic program navbox Volleyball clubs established in 1984 1984 establishments in Florida