Florida Gators women's volleyball


The Florida Gators women's volleyball team represents the University of Florida in the sport of volleyball. The Gators compete in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association and the Southeastern Conference. The Gators play their home matches in the O'Connell Center on the university's Gainesville, Florida campus, and are currently led by head coach Ryan Theis.
𝕏 GatorsVBFB GatorsVBIG gatorsvbTHR gatorsvb

History

The University of Florida's athletic department, the University Athletic Association, authorized the first intercollegiate varsity women's volleyball team to begin play in the fall of 1984. Marilyn McReavy was the Gators' first head coach, and she led the Gators volleyball team for seven seasons from 1984 to 1990. McReavy's Gators compiled an overall win–loss record of 156–100, and a Southeastern Conference record of 26–20. Her best SEC finish was second place in 1988, and her 1987 team was the only one that qualified for the NCAA tournament. McReavy resigned after a 15–16 performance in 1990.
Coach Mary Wise was hired to replace Marilyn McReavy in 1991. In their first year under Wise, the Gators won the SEC regular season championship, sharing it with the LSU Tigers volleyball team.
In 1992, Florida made its first ever NCAA Final Four appearance, where they lost in the semifinals to eventual national runner-up UCLA 15–12, 15–12, 15–10.
In 1993, Wise became the first Division I female head coach to guide her team to more than one final four. In 1996, the Gators made the trip to their third final four in five years, losing to Hawaii in the semifinals. Wise was named the American Volleyball Coaches Association Division I National Coach of the Year.
In 1997, the Gators appeared in the final four once again, being swept by Penn State in the semifinals. The roster consisted of a young squad, with only three seniors on the team.
The Gators made their third consecutive final four in 1998, where they again lost in the semifinals, to eventual national champion and undefeated Long Beach State, 15–2, 15–8, 15–10.
In 2002, Florida made their first final four appearance since 1998, defeating Temple in the Sweet 16 and Penn State in the Elite Eight, before falling to eventual national champion Southern California in the semifinals.
After being 0-for-6 in previous NCAA Final Four semifinals, Florida broke through in 2003, by defeating Hawaii in the semis, 30–28, 30–28, 23–30, 30–28. Appearing in their first NCAA title match in school history, the Gators lost to undefeated Southern California in four sets, 25–30, 30–27, 30–19, 30–26. Wise became the first Division I female head coach to coach in a championship match. In addition, Florida set a then-NCAA record of 105 straight games won during the 2003 season.
The Florida Gators opened the 2017 season beating #1 Texas and #5 Nebraska in the opening weekend. They would eventually become the #1 ranked team...their first since 2010. The Gators finished the season 30–2 and reached their second final...falling to Nebraska 3–1. Rhamat Alhassan, Carli Snyder, Shainah Joseph, and Rachael Kramer would give Florida their highest total class of All-Americans in a single year in school history. Additionally, Mary Wise garnered the 2017 AVCA Coach of the Year for her third time....the second highest total in the award's history.
In 2023, the program's attendance record was set at 10,323 in attendance at the O'Connell Center when the 3rd ranked Gators played #1 Wisconsin. This also set the record for the highest attended volleyball match hosted by an SEC school and the highest on-campus volleyball match in the state of Florida.
On February 17, 2025, former assistant coach Ryan Theis was hired to replace Mary Wise as head coach after 6 seasons at Ohio and 11 seasons at Marquette.

Year-by-year results

YearHead CoachOverall
record		Conference
record		Conference
standing		Postseason
1984Marilyn McReavy16–161–55th–
1985Marilyn McReavy33–134–23rd–
1986Marilyn McReavy15–234–23rd–
1987Marilyn McReavy37–65–23rdNCAA Regional semifinal
1988Marilyn McReavy23–145–22nd–
1989Marilyn McReavy17–123–56th–
1990Marilyn McReavy15–164–43rd–
1991Mary Wise35–513–11stNCAA Regional Final
1992Mary Wise34–214–01stNCAA Final Four
1993Mary Wise33–414–01stNCAA Final Four
1994Mary Wise28–613–11stNCAA Regional semifinal
1995Mary Wise35–214–01stNCAA Regional Final
1996Mary Wise37–214–01stNCAA Final Four
1997Mary Wise34–414–01stNCAA Final Four
1998Mary Wise35–314–01stNCAA Final Four
1999Mary Wise33–314–01stNCAA Regional Final
2000Mary Wise29–514–01stNCAA Regional semifinal
2001Mary Wise28–214–01stNCAA Regional Final
2002Mary Wise34–316–01stNCAA Final Four
2003Mary Wise36–216–01stNCAA Runners-Up
2004Mary Wise28–515–11stNCAA Second Round
2005Mary Wise33–315–11stNCAA Regional Final
2006Mary Wise30–319–11stNCAA Regional Final
2007Mary Wise29–319–11stNCAA Regional semifinal
2008Mary Wise27–418–21stNCAA Regional semifinal
2009Mary Wise26-716–43rdNCAA Regional semifinal
2010Mary Wise29–220–01stNCAA Regional semifinal
2011Mary Wise27–617–32ndNCAA Regional Final
2012Mary Wise27–519–11stNCAA Regional semifinal
2013Mary Wise28–416–22ndNCAA Second Round
2014Mary Wise28–418–01stNCAA Regional Final
2015Mary Wise25–713–54thNCAA Regional Final
2016Mary Wise27–416–21stNCAA Second Round
2017Mary Wise30–217–11stNCAA Runners-Up
2018Mary Wise26–715–33rdNCAA Regional semifinal
2019Mary Wise27–516–21stNCAA Regional semifinal
2020Mary Wise21–419–32ndNCAA Regional Final
2021Mary Wise22–914–43rdNCAA Regional Semifinal
2022Mary Wise25–615–31stNCAA Regional Semifinal
2023Mary Wise19–1010–85thNCAA Second Round
2024Mary Wise23–811–53rdNCAA Regional Semifinal
2025Ryan Theis16–129–65thNCAA 2nd Round
Total1160–263557–82

Southeastern Conference

Southeastern Conference Players of the Year

Florida has 12 players selected SEC player of the year for a total of 18 awards.
  • Gudula Staub, 1992
  • Aycan Gokberk, 1993, 1995
  • Jenny Wood, 1996
  • Nina Foster, 1997
  • Jenny Manz, 1998, 1999
  • Nicole McCray, 2000
  • Aury Cruz, 2001, 2002, 2003
  • Jane Collymore, 2004, 2005
  • Angie McGinnis, 2006, 2007
  • Kelly Murphy, 2010
  • Chloe Mann, 2012
  • Alex Holston, 2014
  • Rhamat Alhassan, 2017

Southeastern Conference Freshman of the Year

Florida has 6 recipients of the Freshman of the Year award.
  • Aury Cruz, 2000
  • Angie McGinnis, 2004
  • Kelly Murphy, 2008
  • Ziva Recek, 2012
  • Rhamat Alhassan, 2014
  • Alexis Stucky, 2022
  • Jaela Auguste, 2024

Southeastern Conference Libero of the Year

Florida has 1 recipient of the Libero of the Year award. The award for Libero of the Year began in 2009.
  • Taylor Unroe, 2013

Southeastern Conference Coach of the Year

Florida has 1 recipient of the Coach of the Year award for a total of 11 awards.
  • Mary Wise, 1995, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2007, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2017

Southeastern Conference Scholar Athlete of the Year

Florida has 3 recipients of the Scholar Athlete of the Year award. The award for Scholar Athlete of the Year began in 2003
  • Kelsey Bowers, 2008
  • Kristy Jaeckel, 2011
  • Holly Pole, 2014

Southeastern Conference Defensive Player of the Year

Florida has 1 recipient of the Defensive Player of the Year award. The award for Defensive Player of the Year began in 2003 and ended in 2008
  • Elyse Cusack, 2006

American Volleyball Coaches Association

All-Americans

Florida has 32 AVCA All-America selections, tenth all-time in NCAA Division I, and 13 First Team selections, tied for tenth all-time.
  • Heidi Anderson, 1992
  • Rhamat Alhassan, 2015, 2017
  • Lauren Bledsoe, 2010
  • T'ara Ceasar, 2020
  • Jane Collymore, 2004, 2005
  • Aury Cruz, 2001, 2002, 2003
  • Erin Fleming, 2010
  • Lauren Forte, 2020
  • Nina Foster, 1997
  • Aycan Gokberk, 1993, 1995
  • Marcie Hampton, 2007
  • Benavia Jenkins, 2001, 2002, 2003
  • Shainah Joseph, 2017
  • Jenny Manz, 1998, 1999
  • Amber McCray, 2006
  • Nicole McCray, 2002
  • Angie McGinnis, 2005, 2006, 2007
  • Ashley Mullis, 1995
  • Kelly Murphy, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011
  • Callie Rivers, 2010
  • Aurymar Rodriguez, 1996
  • Jennifer Sanchez, 1998
  • Carli Snyder, 2017
  • Gudula Staub, 1991, 1992
  • Sherri Williams, 2003
  • Jenny Wood, 1996

National awards

Major awards

  • Mary Wise, National Coach of the Year: 1992, 1996, 2017
  • Kelly Murphy, National Freshman of the Year: 2008
  • Ziva Recek, National Freshman of the Year: 2012

Player of the Week

Nine players have earned twelve AVCA Division I National Player of the Week award: