Gainesville, FL - Florida head volleyball coach Mary Wise looks to
claim her 600th victory at UF on Friday when the No. 15/15 Gators play
host South Carolina in the Stephen C. O’Connell Center. Opening serve
is slated for 4 p.m. ET and the match will be carried live on
GatorZone.com with Tom Collett and Missy Whittemore.

Wise has won more matches during her 19-year tenure at Florida than any other Division I volleyball program since 1991. The Gators are an
impressive 599-66 under Wise’s direction, having won more than 90
percent of their matches since 1991.

Fans can receive 2-for-1 admission by printing out the coupon that is
available exclusively on GatorZone.com at:
http://www.gatorzone.com/promotions/coupons/vollb/2009-11-27.pdf.

The Gators (21-5, 15-4 Southeastern Conference) are coming off an upset of No. 10 Kentucky on its home court this past weekend. In that match, senior libero Elyse Cusack (Melrose, Fla.) moved into sole possession of second-place on the SEC’s all-time career digs list and now has 2,055 scoops for her collegiate career. Cusack needs 72 more digs to break the league record held by former Arkansas standout Ashley Miller.

Florida enters the match ranked 11th in the nation in hitting
percentage with a .278 clip and 13th in kills per set (14.48). The
Gators are second in the SEC in hitting percentage (.278), kills per set
(14.48) and assists per set (13.27). Florida also is third in the league
in service aces per set (1.26).

Friday’s contest marks the beginning of a two-match stretch to
conclude the 2009 regular season. The Gators will then face No. 25 Notre Dame at 7:30 p.m. ET Saturday in the Stephen C. O’Connell Center.

“For those who think that ‘Black Friday’ has to do with shopping,
we’re here to change that,” Wise said. “We play South Carolina at
4 p.m. and we’re hoping that we can draw well to start the big
weekend. We’ve been playing throughout the SEC Friday-Sunday. This
weekend, it’s Friday-Saturday and we did that in part because that’s
what we have to do in the NCAA Tournament - win two matches in two days. We think this will help us prepare for the the following weekend.”

Offensively, Florida is led by sophomore outside hitter Kristy Jaeckel
(Littleton, Colo.), who turned in double-doubles in both of the team’s
matches last weekend. Jaeckel averages 3.27 kills per set, which ranks
eighth in the SEC. Sophomore outside hitter Colleen Ward (Naperville,
Ill.) follows with 3.11 kills per set, which is good for 10th in the
SEC.

Sophomore right-side/setter Kelly Murphy (Wilmington, Ill.) leads all
NCAA Division I players this season with nine triple-doubles and she has 15 triple-dips for her career. Murphy ranks sixth in the SEC in hitting
percentage with a .332 clip and also is the squad’s assists leader
with 6.54 dishes per set.

Cusack heads the Gators’ back-row efforts, ranking fourth in the SEC
with 4.58 digs per set, while sophomore middle blocker Cassandra
Anderson (Bakersfield, Calif.) is second in the league with 1.26 blocks
per set.

The Gators and Gamecocks meet for the 49th time in the history of the
two programs. Florida leads the all-time series 41-7, including a 36-2
mark under Wise’s direction. Thirty of UF’s 41 victories in the
all-time series have come in the form of 3-0 sweeps.

South Carolina enters Friday’s match in last place in the SEC Eastern
Division with a 14-15 overall record and a 5-14 tally in league play.
The Gamecocks have lost seven of their last nine matches, including
three consecutive. Last weekend, South Carolina fell to No. 10 Kentucky and Tennessee on the road.

South Carolina is one of the league’s top defensive teams, ranking
second in the SEC and 53rd in the nation in digs per set with 16.38.
Senior outside hitter Ivana Kujundzic, who has been battling a leg
injury as of late, ranks third in the SEC in kills per set with 3.99.
Libero Sarah Cline averages 4.67 digs per set, which ranks second in the conference, while setter Bridget Denson-Dorman is eighth in the league with 8.61 assists per set.