Nov. 24, 2007
LONG BEACH, Calif.--Florida is the No. 8 team in the country. Having played No. 1 Penn State and No. 4 Stanford earlier this season, Yale wasn't intimidated. The Bulldogs (16-9) proved it Friday night at Walter Pyramid, taking game one before the Gators (27-1) charged back for a 27-30, 30-23, 30-17, 30-18 victory in the second match of the Baden Thanksgiving Classic.
"I was so proud of the way we fought and competed," Head Coach Erin Appleman said. "I was so excited when we won the first game. Unfortunately, it's tough to keep that momentum going for an entire match against a team that good."
The teams were tied nine times and traded the lead three times in game one. Florida took an early lead, but Yale rallied to gain an 11-8 advantage. The Bulldogs tied it at 14-14 before Florida opened up a 21-17 edge. After the Gators built a 26-22 advantage, Yale charged back to pull within one at 26-25, forcing a Florida timeout. The Gators won the next point, but that would be Florida's last point of the game. The Bulldogs ended game one on a 5-0 rally, and Alexis Crusey's kill finished off a 30-27 Yale win. Yale hit .302 (16 kills, three errors, 43 attempts) in game one.
Yale carried that momentum into game two, charging out to an early 7-2 lead on the strength of back-to-back Kelly Ozurovich service aces. The Bulldogs held that lead for much of the game. Florida finally tied it at 20-20, but Yale went right back in front when Crusey's kill made it 21-20. From there, the Gators took control. Florida scored the next six points to go in front, 26-21, and scored 10 of the final 12 to finish off a 30-23 win that evened the match at 1-1.
It was all Florida in game three. The Bulldogs took an early 4-2 lead, but Angie McGinnis served the next eight points, as the Gators built a 10-4 edge of their own. Yale came back to make it 11-9, but Florida wouldn't let the Bulldogs get back in it. The Bulldogs didn't win more than two consecutive points the rest of the game (and they did that only twice), as the Gators took game three by a 30-17 count to take a 2-1 lead in the match.
In game four, Florida used a 13-1 run to turn a 5-5 tie into an 18-6 advantage. Yale garnered four straight points on Katie Fitzpatrick's serve to make it 20-12, but the Gators immediately got three of those back. Yale pulled within 23-15 before a 5-0 Florida run all but put it away. Kristina Johnson's kill finished off game four, 30-18, and gave the Gators their 11th consecutive victory. Florida hit .448 (18-5-29) in the final game.
Crusey had 14 kills and a match-high 18 digs for the Bulldogs. Ally Mendenhall added 33 assists and 12 digs. Kristen Wilk tallied nine kills on .348 hitting and three blocks. Julia Mailander and Ozurovich each posted three aces. The Bulldogs hit .112 (41-24-158) as a team.
SEC Player of the Year Marcie Hampton led four Gators with double-digit kills. Hampton smacked 20 kills on .325 hitting and added 14 digs. Callie Rivers had 17 kills on .394 hitting and 10 digs, while Kisya Killingworth posted 12 kills, seven digs and six blocks. Kelsey Bowers added 10 kills and four blocks. Elyse Cusack led Florida with 15 digs. McGinnis dished out 59 assists to go along with nine digs, six kills and three blocks. The Gators had 73 kills to Yale's 41 and out-dug the Bulldogs 66-42. Florida hit .320 (73-26-147) for the match.
The Bulldogs have one match remaining in the 2007 season. Yale takes on UC Santa Barbara (12-18) Saturday at 3 p.m. ET in their final match of the tournament. The Gauchos opened the event with a 3-1 win over Temple on Friday afternoon.
Report filed by Joe Clifford, Yale Sports Publicity