FLORIDA NATIONALLY ENTERING SOUTH CAROLINA

BROADCAST INFORMATION

Sunday, Oct. 9, at South Carolina

TV: ESPNU

SCOUTING THE OPPONENT

at South Carolina (Oct. 9)

GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- The No. 11 Gators, who checked in at No. 13 in the first RPI rankings of the season Monday, will look to keep their momentum going in Columbia Sunday with a clash at South Carolina. Florida went 1-1 in the last week of play, falling to Kentucky last Wednesday for its first conference loss before rebounding with a 3-1 win against Tennessee Sunday in the Gators' Pink Match at the Lemerand Athletic Center.After dodging its second hurricane in just over a month, first Hermine and now Matthew, Florida will make its way to South Carolina Saturday for a noon match-up Sunday on ESPNU at the Carolina Volleyball Center with Melissa Lee and Jenny Hazelwood on the call. With just one match this week, UF will carry a little rest, recuperation and a week's worth of practice into the match with South Carolina after playing 10 of its first 15 matches on the road to start 2016.Florida put up impressive numbers against the Volunteers last time out: double-doubles forand, a career high 57 assists for, a career high kills and points for freshman middleand a season best kills and points for. Five Gators scored double-digit points for the Orange and Blue in the victory over Tennessee.UF is now 418-46 (.901) all-time in SEC play, including a 392-24 mark the past 25 seasons under. The Gators have won 17 straight over the Gamecocks entering Sunday's tilt in Columbia.With South Carolina's loss to Georgia Friday in Athens, both the Gators and Gamecocks will be looking to improve their SEC standings with a win Sunday. Entering the weekend's Sunday matches, Florida sits tied for third (3-1), while the Gamecocks are in the lower middle of the pack in the league standings at 1-3 (.250) through their four SEC matches so far.Florida's offense continues to rank No. 1 in the nation (.336), including 17th in the country in kills per set (14.27). Behind's SEC and nation-leading 12.38 assists per set, Florida is 13th in the NCAA in assists per set (13.47). Defensively, UF checks in at No. 15 with 2.86 blocks per set, 54th with 146.0 overall blocks. The Gators have now held 10 of 15 opponents under a .200 clip to rank 60th in opponent efficiency (.174), have put together six double-digit block efforts in the last eight matches and eight double-digit block matches so far this season. Led by junior libero's ball control and elite back-row play, Florida has had one reception error or less in seven matches this season, including three perfect receiving matches (Michigan State, Jacksonville, Alabama).Individually, in addition to Monserez's nation-leading 12.38 assists per set, freshmanhas skyrocketed to the top of the SEC and NCAA standings in hitting efficiency (.529), whileis close behind at third in the SEC and 18th in the national rankings (.412). Alhassan checks in at No. 24 with 1.36 blocks per set.is 69th in points per set (4.35) andis 72nd in kills per set (3.80) entering South Carolina.| 13-3 overall, 1-3 SEC in 2016