No. 5 Gators Tame Tigers With Season-Best Offensive Showing

Friday, October 9

Columbia, MO

8 PM

Florida Gators

13-1,4-0SEC

Missouri

8-8,1-3SEC

Team	1	2	3	Final F
Florida	25	26	25	3
Missouri	13	24	13	0

Gamebook

The Gators are off to their best start since 2017. // Photo by Missouri Athletics

No. 5 Gators Tame Tigers With Season-Best Offensive Showing

Friday, October 9, 2026 | Volleyball

Box Score Gamebook

Florida hit over .500 for the first time since the 2022 campaign.

By: Andrew Hile

COLUMBIA, Mo. – No. 5 Florida volleyball turned in its best offensive performance since the 2022 campaign Friday, defeating Missouri 3-0 (25-13, 26-24, 25-13) to win its 11th straight match.

The Gators (13-1, 4-0 Southeastern Conference) hit .519 with 44 kills against just three errors, a season high led by Kamryn Chaney's 12 kills. Alec Rothe and Logan King added eight and seven kills, respectively, while Taylor Parks posted a match-high 34 assists to go along with nine digs. The .519 mark is the team's best since it hit .521 against Virginia on Aug. 27, 2022.

Florida also outhit the Tigers (8-8, 1-3 SEC) .519-.149 and held edges in kills (44-29), assists (41-28) and service aces (6-3), with Bella Lee's three aces pacing the Gators at the service line.

The Orange and Blue's defense was just as impressive. Missouri combed Florida's defense for openings and couldn't find a hole, hitting just .149 against 36 digs and six team blocks. Lily Hayes and Parks led the way in the back with 10 and nine digs, respectively, while Brooklyn Briscoe's three blocks were a match high. Mizzou finished without a single block and with 29 digs.

The Tigers were led by Kimani Johnson's eight kills and Ainoah Cruz's nine digs.

Set One - UF 25, Mizzou 13

The Gators wasted no time establishing a lead, jumping out to an 8-3 advantage early with three kills from Rothe.
Mizzou closed the gap to two, 9-7, but Jordyn Byrd put an end to the flurry with a ball at the back line. Her kill started a 3-0 spurt that extend the UF lead back to five, 12-7.
The Tigers wouldn't get within four as the Florida lead swelled to 12 on three occasions en route to the 25-13 set victory.
The Gators hit .577 as a team with 15 kills, led by five from Rothe and four from Chaney.
Parks posted 11 assists and a team-best six digs, while Hayes added four to anchor the back row.
Defensively, UF held Missouri to .118 hitting with just nine kills.

Set Two - UF 26, Mizzou 24

Missouri started fast in the second frame, opening up a 5-2 lead.
The Orange & Blue took their first lead of the set going into the media timeout, 15-14, following a pair of kills from Briscoe and King and a bad set from Missouri.
The Gators fell behind by two late in the set, but a service error from Mizzou and ace from Parks evened the score at 19.
Florida faced a Missouri set point, 24-23, before a pair of kills from Selena Leban and King, and a block assist from Briscoe and Parks, put the set away, 26-24.
Chaney led the offense with five kills as the Gators hit .357 as a team, helped by 11 assists once again from Parks.

Set Three - UF 25, Mizzou 13

The Gators were off and running in the third period, quickly claiming a 7-2 edge assisted by a pair of dumps from Parks.
Florida forced a timeout following Leban's third kill of the match to put UF up, 10-4.
The Orange & Blue didn't slow down, extending their lead to nine heading into the media timeout, 15-6, following Hayes' first service ace of the match.
UF's lead would peak at 13 following a Briscoe kill to open up a 22-9 advantage.
Chaney put the match on ice with the final kill, with the Gators taking the 25-13 set and match victory.
The Gators hit .680 in the final set with 17 kills, led by Leban's four.
Parks assisted on 12 balls.
Missouri was held to -.036 hitting.

Quotes from the Court
Head Coach Ryan Theis
…on his team's performance against the Tigers
"The offense did a really good job tonight and the defense, other than the second set, was pretty good, so I'm happy with the team effort. Taylor [Parks] set well, this was one of her better matches in terms of location and giving hitters good looks. She was really good, her ball control was good and we need it for the offense to hum like that.

Third-Year Setter Taylor Parks
…on how the offense was able to excel on Friday
"We went into the match with a good offensive plan of keeping it simple and knowing how their blockers react to certain passes, and how we could find openings in that way. I think we did a really nice job passing, so we were able to execute well and our hitters are very physical, and we were able to use that to our advantage."

Notables

The Gators improve to 16-5 all-time against Missouri, including a 7-3 mark in Columbia.
Florida has won nine straight matches over the Tigers.
With their 11th-consecutive win, Florida is on their longest winning streak since winning 14 in-a-row during the 2018 campaign.
At 4-0 in the SEC, the Gators are off to their best conference start since beginning 5-0 in the adjusted COVID 2020-21 season.
Florida's 13-1 start marks the best since the 2017 squad began 14-0.
Florida hit over .500 for the first time since Aug. 27, 2022, when they hit .521 against Virginia.
The Gators' .680 hitting percentage in the third set was a season-high and best since hitting .652 against Troy in the first set on Sept. 13.
Florida held an opponent under .200 hitting for the 11th time this season.
Kamryn Chaney surpassed 10 kills for the ninth time in 2026.
Bri Denney made her first appearance in a Florida uniform.

Up Next
The Gators continue their road trip on Sunday at 2 p.m. ET when they travel to Nashville for a matchup with Vanderbilt on SEC Network+.

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