No. 10 Florida Gets Defensive in Victory Over Seminoles on Friday Night

Friday, September 18

Tallahassee, FL

7 PM

Florida Gators

8-1,0-0SEC

Florida State

5-5,0-0ACC

Team	1	2	3	4	Final F
Florida	25	21	27	25	3
Florida St.	22	25	25	20	1

Gamebook

A female volleyball athlete in a white Florida jersey swings at a ball

Logan King recorded a career-high seven blocks against Florida State // Photo by Mia Tunon | UAA Communications

No. 10 Florida Gets Defensive in Victory Over Seminoles on Friday Night

Friday, September 18, 2026 | Volleyball

Box Score Gamebook

The Gators have now won four-straight matches against Florida State.

By: Andrew Hile

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – No. 10 Florida volleyball secured its fourth consecutive victory over in-state rival Florida State on Friday evening, downing the Seminoles in four sets, 3-1 (25-22, 21-25, 27-25, 25-20), in Tallahassee.

Strong defense pushed the Gators (8-1, 0-0 SEC) past the Seminoles (5-5, 0-0 ACC) in front of a hostile crowd at Tully Gymnasium. Florida tallied 14 total team blocks, with seven each from Logan King, a career high, and Alec Rothe, and held FSU to .199 hitting efficiency for the match. Lily Hayes and Taylor Parks helped anchor the defense with 15 and 14 digs, respectively, out of Florida's 61 total.

On the offensive end, Kamryn Chaney notched a match-high 17 kills, with Rothe contributing 13 of her own and King posting nine. Parks helped direct the offense with 44 assists to go along with her 14 digs. The Orange & Blue outhit the Seminoles (.257-.199), recorded more assists (53-51) and were even in kills (61-61).

With the victory, the Gators are off to their best start since opening 9-1 in 2023. Florida has also won eight of nine against Florida State.

The Seminoles were led by Kyleene Filimaua with 12 kills, 15 digs and three blocks.

Set One - UF 25, Florida State 22

The Gators were off to a quick start in the match with a 6-2 lead, helped by two block assists from Parks and Rothe, followed by King and Rothe.
Florida's lead swelled to five off a King service ace, forcing a Seminole timeout at 10-5.
Holding a three-point advantage, a kill from Rothe and back-to-back Chaney kills gave UF their biggest lead of the set, 15-9, heading into the media timeout.
Florida State knotted the score at 20 late in the set, but consecutive Chaney kills ended a 4-1 Seminole run and put the Gators up for good en route to the 25-22 set victory.
Chaney led the Orange & Blue with six of Florida's 16 kills, while the Gators hit .355 as a squad, helped by Parks' 12 assists.
Rothe tallied three blocks, with Florida recording four total team blocks.

Set Two - Florida State 25, UF 21

Florida used an early 3-0 to open up a 7-3 advantage, assisted by a King kill from Parks.
FSU took the lead near the midway point of the frame, 14-13, but kills from King and Rothe pushed the Gators in front at the media break.
The Seminoles recaptured the lead at 17-16 and wouldn't trail for the remainder of the period, holding on for a 25-21 set victory.
Parks assisted on 15 kills, while Chaney put away five balls to lead the offense.
The Gators recorded 15 digs in the second set.

Set Three - UF 27, Florida State 25

Facing a three-point deficit, Florida used a 3-0 run that was capped off by a King kill to even the match at eight.
Selena Leban's first ace of the night gave the Gators their first lead of the set, 10-9.
A 5-0 run by the Seminoles gave the home team a three-point lead, but the Gators answered with a 4-0 spurt of their own, featuring a solo block by King with a block assist from King and Rothe putting the exclamation point on the flurry.
Florida State would again claim the lead, 19-17, but the Orange & Blue tied the set off a perfect pass from King to Jordyn Byrd before taking the lead off a Brooklyn Briscoe and Byrd block.
Facing set point, 25-24, Chaney delivered two straight kills to set Florida up to claim the set following a Florida State error, 27-25.
The Gators overcame slow offense, hitting just .089 in the frame, with strong defense at the net, tallying seven total team blocks.
King recorded three block assists and a solo block, while Briscoe added three block assists to lead UF.
Hayes contributed five digs to bolster the defense.
Florida State also struggled on the offensive end, hitting .114.

Set Four - UF 25, Florida State 20

It was a back-and-forth affair early before a trio of errors from FSU gave the Gators a three-point edge, 9-6.
The Seminoles pulled within one, 11-10, prior to kills from Leban and Byrd that forced an FSU timeout at 13-10.
Momentum remained on the Orange & Blue's side, with the burst ultimately resulting in a 6-1 run that expanded the lead to 17-11.
Florida State closed the gap to two, 20-18, but a Chaney kill out of a Florida timeout helped calm the Gators en route to the 25-20 set and match victory.
The Gators had their best offensive outing of the match, hitting .394 with 13 kills.
Hayes and Parks both tallied five digs, while Florida notched three total team blocks.
The Seminoles were held to .133 hitting.

Quotes from the Court
Head Coach Ryan Theis
…on what he saw out of the Gators in a hostile environment
"Grit. This team has all kinds. After only siding-out at 50% in the third, our team is always concerned about where we need to be, how we stop so-and-so, so we were holding them to .114, but weren't siding out. The message to the team was, 'defensively we're fine, we just need to side-out at a higher clip.' Then we came out and went 80% around the media timeout and hit .400 or something, so just a really good response after a gritty, hard-fought, low side-out, high-error third set. To sneak that one out and then come out and play well, I was pretty impressed."

Third-Year Alec Rothe
…on what allowed her to be successful on Friday
"I think it was back to the basics, focusing on my training and getting up fast, making myself available for Taylor [Parks]. I was working hard to finish my blocking hands towards the wall instead of reaching back towards the players. That was something Blake [Leeson] and I have been talking about a lot to get my blocking numbers up, I think they've been low the last couple games and that's something I've been working on.

…on facing adversity on the road
"We emulate that in practice every single day. We have an environment that forces us push back against adversity, start with a lower score and find a way to win, so it takes the pass, set and hit to make it happen. I'm really proud of the way we executed tonight."

Notables

Florida has now won four straight, and eight of nine, against Florida State, and hold a 47-21 advantage in the series.
Friday evening marked the 17th win for the Gators in Tallahassee.
At 8-1, the Gators are off to their best start since the 2023 campaign, where they began 9-1.
The Gators tallied 10+ blocks for the fifth time this season.
Taylor Parks recorded her third double-double of the season.
Logan King's seven blocks marked a career-high.
Alec Rothe tallied a career-high two assists.

Up Next
The Orange & Blue will return to action on Wednesday, Sept. 23, for one final tune-up before SEC play at 6:30 p.m. ET as Jacksonville makes its way to the Stephen C. O'Connell Center.

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