TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Milica Kubura tallied 19 kills and Natasha Calkins contributed 13 kills for 13th-ranked Florida State, who suffered a four-set loss to seventh-ranked Florida by scores of 27-25, 19-25, 25-22, 25-19 as the two squared off in a Sunshine Showdown, presented by Fresh From Florida in Tully Gymnasium on Wednesday evening.
Kubura attacked the Florida (7-1) defense on 34 occasions, converting 19 strikes and committing five miscues as she finished with a .418 attack percentage. Her counterpart Calkins, who established her new career-high in kills (13), was flawless in 19 attacks as she posted a .684 attack percentage.
Florida State’s (6-2) offense regained its rhythm behind the setting combination of Brianne Burkert (28 assists) and Hailey Luke (22), who made her return to the court after missing three games with a concussion. The duo combined to lead the Seminoles to 56 assists, second-most this season, and a .207 attack percentage.
Defensively the Noles were led by the combination of Katie Horton (17 digs), Cecilie Woie (11) and Burkert, who capped off her sixth career double-double with 11 digs. Florida State’s front line of Melanie Keil and Mara Green led the Seminoles to 13 assisted blocks with three apiece.
Florida, with a 2-1 advantage in the set, established itself early on in the fourth set as it jumped out to a 9-5 lead following a series of kills by Carli Snyder, Alex Holston and Rachael Kramer. The four point advantage was doubled to eight, 17-9, during an 8-4 run that included two Snyder kills and three unforced errors by the Noles.
Three kills by Calkins and one from Kubura kept Florida State within striking distance as the Gators established 23-15 lead deep in the set. The Seminoles made one final run, with Burkert in serve, capitalizing on two attack errors and a service ace, before Florida completed the six-point win.[
Three kills from Kubura and two by Keil, early in the third set, were instrumental in Florida State battling to a 13-all tie with the Gators. Florida regained the lead by two on the back of Kramer who came through with a block and a kill, forcing a Seminole timeout.
A series of offensive strikes the duo of Keil and Kubura kept Florida State within striking distance as the Gators spent their first timeout leading 20-18 deep in the third frame. However, Florida managed to hold off a late charge by the Noles, which included kills from the barrage of Kubura, Green, Horton and Calkins, to assume the 2-1 advantage.
Florida State quickly rebounded from the first set setback by running out to a 5-0 lead in the second set behind kills from Keil and Horton with Burkert in serve. Florida answered with an 8-1 run, which included four straight unforced errors by Seminoles, forcing the first FSU timeout of the frame.
Trailing by four on three occasions over the next 14 points of the set, Florida State chipped away at the lead behind kills from Horton, Kubura and Calkins to pull even at 14-all. It was there, with Horton in serve, that the Noles converted two kills by Kubura and added a strike by Keil to assume a 17-14 lead.
Two kills each by Calkins and Christina Ambrose, along with four unforced errors by Florida, helped Florida State secure the six-point win.
Trailing 11-8 in the early stages of the first set the Seminoles used a pair of kills by Horton to ignite a 6-3 run that drew the game even at 14-all on a Green kill. A Gator timeout was not enough to derail the Florida State offense and server Keil, who forced Florida into committing two errors along with capitalizing on kills by Green and Kubura en route to establishing an 18-14 advantage.
The Seminoles maintained their lead until a kill by Florida’s Shainah Joseph coupled with an attack error on offense knotted the game at 23. The two teams would battle to a 25-25 tie before a kill by Rhamat Alhassan and a Florida State unforced error provided the Gators a two-point victory.
For more information on Seminole volleyball be sure to visit Facebook (Florida State Seminoles Volleyball), Twitter (FSU_Volleyball) and Instagram (FSUvolleyball).
