Florida Volleyball’s Kennedy Martin sets record with win over Tennessee – ESPN 98.1 FM

Kennedy Martin now ties Aury Cruz for the Florida volleyball program’s all-time kills record after securing 31 in Friday night’s 3-1 win over Tennessee.

Cruz, a four-time AVCA All-American, reached his career high with 31 kills on December 8, 2001. Nearly 23 years later, Cruz now shares that title with Kennedy Martin, who also recorded the most kills in a four-set match, breaking her career high of 28 kills.

Martin’s 31st kill was also the one that ended the game, giving the No. 24 Gators a 25-27, 25-23, 25-16, 25-20 victory.

How it happened

Florida’s third straight conference win moves the Gators to 14-5 overall and 5-3 in the SEC.

Sentence 1:

The Gators were strong in Set 1 against the Vols (10-8, 3-5), with Isabel Martin putting the first point on the line with a kill. An ace from Tennessee put Florida behind 6-3, but Tennessee’s three-point streak was stopped by a kill from AC Fitzpatrick.

The Gators trailed 15-12 before the media timeout, and even after doing its best to reduce the score deficit, Tennessee climbed to a 17-13 lead. However, thanks to Kennedy Martin, Florida was able to slowly fight back and earn a 20-20 draw against Tennessee. Despite UF’s aggressive play and tough fight, the Vols won the first set 27-25.

Sentence 2:

The start of the set was a back-and-forth affair. Despite a block from Fitzpatrick and Alec Rothe that put the Gators behind 10-9, Tennessee rallied and went on a 4-0 winning run, forcing Florida to call a timeout.

A kill from Isabel Martin brought the score to 18-15 and gave the Gators the boost they needed. Her kill was then followed by a block from Amaya Thomas, consecutive kills from Kennedy Martin and more kills from Jaela Auguste and Fitzpatrick.

Kennedy Martin finished the game 25-23 with her 15th kill of the night.

Sentence 3:

Tennessee made three service errors in the first seven points of the set. Then Kennedy Martin and Auguste mercilessly hit both balls to the opposing side, giving the Vols the first timeout of the set at 6-3. Tennessee never recovered for the rest of the set.

Additional kills from Kennedy Martin and consecutive kills from Isabel Martin gave Florida a 10-5 lead.

The Gators didn’t let the lead slip. Kills from Kennedy and Isabel Martin gave the team momentum and energy for the duration of the set.

Another set of consecutive kills from Kennedy Martin and a block from Rothe brought UF to 24-15. A kill from Auguste ended the set 25:16.

Florida recorded 17 total kills in the set, seven of which came from K. Martin.

The last set:

After a few point drops early in the set, Tennessee was able to briefly take the lead until an ace from Emerson Hoyle tied the score at 7.

Hoyle’s ace was followed by back-to-back kills from Amaya Thomas and an ace from Isabel Martin, forcing Tennessee to call a timeout. The Gators continued to carry the momentum by playing aggressively and with a lot of energy.

A block by Isabel Martin and Thomas gave Florida a 17-16 lead and forced the Vols to use their final timeout. Unfortunately for Tennessee, that scrum didn’t do much good as the Gators continued to cap off their efforts with kills from Isabel and Kennedy Martin and another double block from Isabel Martin and Thomas.

Not only did Kennedy Martin match her career high in kills with the final point of the game, securing Florida’s set win 25-20, she also surpassed her career high of 28 kills as the Gators led 22-19. If Martin had landed one more kill, she would have broken the all-time career kill record.

Worth mentioning

Florida set five match highs in four sets:

• Points: 79
• Hit rate: .444
• Killings: 68
• Try: 128
• Supports: 65

Three Gators matched or equaled season highs:

• Isabel Martin: 3 assists
• Kennedy Martin: 8 excavations | 32.5 points
• Taylor Parks: 4 kills (draw)

Both Kennedy Martin and Isabel Martin finished with double-digit kills (31 and 14, respectively).

Next

The Gators play at Arkansas (14-5, 4-3) on Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET and the game can be streamed on the SEC Network.