Florida knocks back Stanford, moves to NCAA volleyball final

Ten sets of volleyball happened at the Sprint Center on Thursday. Once they were over, it was almost Friday.

The end result: The Division I national championship in Kansas City on Saturday will be a rematch of a game that took place earlier this season: Florida vs. Nebraska.

In the later semifinal on Thursday, the No. 2 seed Florida Gators (30-1) beat No. 3 seed Stanford Cardinal (30-4), the defending national champion (25-22, 25-21, 18-25, 18-25, 15-10).

To win the national title, the Gators, playing in their first Final Four since 2003, will have to beat a Nebraska team they topped in five sets in Florida back in August.

“We feel very fortunate that we’re advancing to play this next road match,” Florida coach Mary Wise said, darting her eyes from side to side to see if anyone picked up on her mild sarcasm. Cornhusker fans filled the lower bowl of the Sprint Center on Thursday, and they should come out in even greater force this weekend.

“You’re all dreaming for that one shot to be playing in that last match,” Wise said, “and we get the chance.”

For a while, it seemed that the Gators might blow that chance. After winning the first two sets without ever falling behind by more than two points, Florida finally struggled in the third set.

Rachael Kramer’s and Shainah Joseph’s attacks went wide on three straight points to go down 15-10. The Gators called a timeout after getting down 16-10, but that didn’t fix anything. Attack errors remained a problem, and the Cardinal jumpe out to as large as an 8-point lead.

Rhamat Alhassan — who tied Carli Snyder with a team high 20 points — helped the Gators get back on track offensively with two kills, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the early misfires in the third set.

Stanford carried its momentum from the third set into the fourth and established a commanding 11-2 lead. The Gators pulled within 4, down 21-17, after a double block by Kramer and Cheyenne Huskey, but the Cardinal’s early lead was too big.

But at least mentally, Florida was beginning to rebound. Joseph gathered her teammates and told them they couldn’t get complacent.

“It was just a question of not settling for what we have, not settling for two sets,” Joseph said. “… We have to go and fight for every single point. We have to go and take every single point.”

Alhassan was responsible for four of Florida’s first nine points in the fifth set. She helped Florida take a 11-6 lead in the final set, and Kramer, who had five blocks, recorded the final kill.

“I don’t care where you are,” Alhassan told her setters during that final set. “Find me.”

After the win, Alhassan flailed her arms and ran to the contingent of Gator fans, who filled about the first 12 rows behind the Florida bench.

Finally, that group could celebrate, perhaps two sets after they thought they would be able to.

This story was originally published December 15, 2017 at 12:49 AM with the headline "Florida knocks back Stanford, moves to NCAA volleyball final."