Defense Shines as No. 17 Gators Sweep North Texas to Conclude Texas Trip

Sunday, September 6

Denton, TX

2 PM

Florida Gators

4-1,0-0SEC

North Texas

3-2,0-0American

Team	1	2	3	Final F
Florida	25	28	25	3
North Texas	17	26	16	0

Female athletes in black Florida Gators jerseys celebrate after scoring a point in volleyball

Alec Rothe has recorded 20 total blocks over the past four matches. // Photo by Nicolas Romero | UAA Communications

Defense Shines as No. 17 Gators Sweep North Texas to Conclude Texas Trip

Sunday, September 6, 2026 | Volleyball

Box Score Gamebook

The Gators held the Mean Green to .038 hitting for the match.

By: Andrew Hile

DENTON, Texas – Defense was in the spotlight for the No. 17 Gators volleyball team on Sunday afternoon, as Florida defeated North Texas 3-0 (25-17, 28-26, 25-16) in front of a record crowd of 2,377 at The Super Pit.

Florida held its opponent to under .100 hitting for the third time this season, limiting the Mean Green to .038 hitting with the help of 12 total team blocks. Alec Rothe led the way at the net with five blocks, while Jordyn Byrd and Aniya Madkin added four apiece. Three Gators tallied double-digit digs, including Lily Hayes (12), Selena Leban (10) and Taylor Parks (10). UF finished with 47 digs to North Texas' 32, while the Mean Green ended with just five total team blocks.

Rothe paced the offense as well, putting down 10 kills on a .538 hitting percentage. Leban and Chaney chipped in seven and six kills, respectively, as UF posted 44 kills as a team on a .276 clip. Parks ran the offense efficiently, setting 30 assists while adding a career-high five kills of her own. Florida held the advantage over North Texas in both kills (44-26) and assists (39-25).

Jahniya Jackson had the best offensive performance for UNT, recording nine kills and adding six digs. Loredana Jouonji added three blocks, and Alessandra Romo led the defense with 14 digs.

Set One - UF 25, North Texas 17

The Gators got off to a quick start thanks to strong defense at the net, with back-to-back blocks by Rothe, assisted by Jordyn Byrd on the second.
North Texas evened the set at 12 before a kill by Rothe and consecutive block assists from Brooklyn Briscoe and Byrd began a 4-0 run, giving UF a 16-12 advantage.
Florida wouldn't allow the Mean Green within three for the rest of the frame, leading by as many as eight en route to the 25-17 set victory.
Offensively, Florida tallied 15 kills on .452 hitting, led by four kills each from Chaney and Parks.
UNT was held to -0.059 hitting.
Byrd posted four blocks, with the Gators getting up for five total team blocks.

Set Two - UF 28, North Texas 26

Trailing 6-4, the Orange & Blue used a 4-0 run, capped off by an ace from Bella Lee, to regain the lead at 8-6.
After a back-and-forth effort from both squads, UNT pulled ahead late in the set, 20-18. Florida put together a 3-0 spurt, featuring an Amaya Thomas kill, to give the Gators the lead 21-20.
A Thomas and Parks block, followed by a Thomas solo block, put the set away for UF at 28-26.
Rothe notched six kills in the set, while Parks contributed 15 assists.
Hayes anchored the defense with seven digs as Florida hold the Mean Green to .179 hitting.

Set Three - UF 25, North Texas 16

Neither team was able to build a lead early, with the set knotted at eight. A 6-0 burst with kills by Logan King and Madkin, as well as blocks from King, Madkin and Rothe, helped UF establish an advantage, 14-8.
The UF lead would swell to as many as eight three times before the Gators claimed the biggest lead of the set off of a kill by Rothe to win the match, 25-16.
For the second set of the match, Florida held the Mean Green to negative hitting at -0.030, helped by five total team blocks, four of which came from Madkin and three from Rothe.

Quotes from the Court
Head Coach Ryan Theis
…on the ability to show different lineups
"I think it's an example of our depth. I've said several times, I wish we could play teams 12-on-12 because I think we've got a lot of depth this year, and you saw that today. We went to Kira [Hutson] and Amaya [Thomas] in the middle of two, Aniya [Madkin] in the third, and were still able to get out of here 3-0 after an extremely challenging week. We're ready to go home."

…on the message to Gator Nation ahead of Wednesday's match with Miami
"I'd love it if we could pack the Dome. Let's fill it up!"

Notables

Florida now leads the series history with North Texas, 2-0.
Sunday's result was the third sweep of the nonconference.
Taylor Parks recorded a career-high five kills.
The Gators had three athletes record 10 or more digs for the first time since Nov. 7, 2025 vs. Texas.
Florida held an opponent under .100 hitting percentage for the third time this season
UF has eclipsed 12 total team blocks three times in 2026.
Lily Hayes sits at 472 digs, continuing to close the gap on 500.
Sunday's attendance of 2,377 was a record for UNT volleyball.
44 kills are the most in a three-set match this season.

Up Next
After the four-match road trip, the No. 17 Gators return home for the ACC-SEC Challenge on Wednesday, Sept. 9, when in-state foe Miami visits the Stephen C. O'Connell Center for an 8 p.m. ET matchup on SEC Network.

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