Florida Gators women's volleyball

History

The University of Florida's athletic department, the University Athletic Association, 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 Southeastern Conference (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 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 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 the trip to their third final four in five years, losing to Hawaii in the semifinals. Wise was named the American Volleyball Coaches Association (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, with only 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, 15–2, 15–8, 15–10.

In 2002, Florida made their first final four appearance since 1998, defeating Temple in the Sweet 16 and Penn State in the Elite Eight, before falling to eventual national champion Southern California 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 head 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 season 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 (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.

In 2023, the program's attendance record was set at 10,323 in attendance at the O'Connell Center when the 3rd ranked Gators played #1 Wisconsin. This also set the record for the highest attended volleyball match hosted by an SEC school and the highest on-campus volleyball match in the state of Florida.

On February 17, 2025, former assistant coach Ryan Theis was hired to replace Mary Wise as head coach after 6 seasons at Ohio and 11 seasons at Marquette.

Year-by-year results

|- | 1984 | Marilyn McReavy | 16–16 | 1–5 | 5th

| | 1160–263 | 557–82 | | |- |}

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 6 recipients of the Freshman of the Year award.

• Aury Cruz, 2000
• Angie McGinnis, 2004
• Kelly Murphy, 2008
• Ziva Recek, 2012
• Rhamat Alhassan, 2014
• Alexis Stucky, 2022
• Jaela Auguste, 2024

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 (Sept. 30, 2008; Aug. 21, 2010; and Sept. 20 2011)
• Kristy Jaeckel (Oct. 4, 2011)
• Rhamat Alhassan (Sept. 16, 2014)
• Rachael Kramer (Aug. 29th, 2017)

References

References

1. "Rent the Center – Stephen C. O'Connell Center".
2. National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) (2007); NCAA Championship Women's Volleyball Program, p. 48
3. "1996 AVCA Coach of the Year".
4. "1997 Roster".
5. National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) (2007); NCAA Championship Women's Volleyball Program, p. 50
6. http://www.floridagators.com/volleyball schedule
7. "Gators Put Up Valiant Effort, Fall to No. 1 Wisconsin in Five".
8. "Ryan Theis Named Florida Volleyball’s Head Coach".
9. [http://a.espncdn.com/photo/2014/0724/VB%20Record%20Book.pdf SEC Record Book]
10. "2017 SEC Volleyball Awards announced".
11. [http://a.espncdn.com/photo/2014/0724/VB%20Record%20Book.pdf SEC Record Book]
12. [http://a.espncdn.com/photo/2014/0724/VB%20Record%20Book.pdf SEC Record Book]
13. [http://a.espncdn.com/photo/2014/0724/VB%20Record%20Book.pdf SEC Record Book]
14. [http://a.espncdn.com/photo/2014/0724/VB%20Record%20Book.pdf SEC Record Book]
15. [http://a.espncdn.com/photo/2014/0724/VB%20Record%20Book.pdf SEC Record Book]
16. 2017 AVCA Meeting on December 13, 2017
17. [https://web.archive.org/web/20110716231809/http://www.avca.org/includes/media/docs/DIAAalltime.PDF AVCA All-American history]
18. 2017 AVCA Meeting December 13, 2017
19. 2017 AVCA meeting on December 13, 2017
20. 2017 AVCA meeting December 13, 2017
21. 2017 AVCA meeting on December 13, 2017
22. link. (2011-07-16 " AVCA.)
23. "[http://www.avca.org/awards/players-of-the-week/kelly-murphy/ Kelly Murphy: National Player of the Week] {{Webarchive. link. (2009-04-06 " AVCA.)
24. link. (2014-12-04 " AVCA.)
25. link. (2014-12-04 " AVCA.)
26. "[http://www.avca.org/awards/players-of-the-week/rhamat-alhassan/ Rhamat Alhassan: National Player of the Week] {{Webarchive. link. (2014-12-04 " AVCA.)