Florida's Allie Monserez doesn't tower over her teammates, and she isn't terribly flashy with her sets. Toss a compliment to the 5-foot-9 redshirt sophomore about leading the nation in assists per set and she's quick to tout her surrounding cast -- Carli Snyder, Alex Holston and Rhamat Alhassan, three of the best hitters in the game.
But Gators coach Mary Wise will tell you Monserez, the espnW national volleyball player of the week, is awfully good, too.
"She's a point guard who's not going to score a ton of points but can recognize the open player and can get them the ball and can do it without a whole lot of fanfare," Wise said. "She just delivers a killable ball, and as the season has gone on, she's learned not just how but when to do it."
In weekend victories over LSU and Texas A&M, Monserez recorded 89 assists. Also the SEC player of the week and the AVCA national player of the week, Monserez tied the mark for any SEC player this season in a four-set match with 57 assists against Texas A&M on Sunday. Monserez posted her third double-double of the season at LSU with 32 assists and a career-high 16 digs. Tenth-ranked Florida leads the SEC in hitting percentage at .323.
"Our hitters have been hitting at such a high efficiency, it's been a really fun environment to be in," Monserez said. "Having Alex, Rhamat and Carli up there, I have full faith and trust I'm going to put it up, and they're going to give it their best swing."
Monserez started her career at South Carolina, averaging 4.87 assists and posting five double-doubles as a freshman before deciding the program wasn't the best fit for her. Gainesville was 90 minutes from her hometown, Windermere, and her sister, Madison, had been a defensive specialist for Florida, so the transfer to Wise's perennial powerhouse was natural. She sat out last season, learning from Mackenzie Dagostino and watching the tendencies of Snyder, Holston and the otherworldly Alhassan, perhaps the most athletic middle blocker in the sport.
"Mackenzie was a great mentor," Monserez said. "She was so composed on the court. Watching her really helped me."
Wise said like Dagostino, Monserez is undersized, "and she realizes how much harder she has to work," she said. "She was here last summer. Alex, Carli, Rhamat and Allie, the time they put in the gym, without any coaches, was invaluable. We needed them to be on the same page. Allie is not 6-feet tall. She's not a lefty. She's never made a USA team. She's just been the consummate stabilizer doing what she needs to do for the team to be successful."
Although Monserez didn't travel in 2015, Snyder made her feel part of the team as soon as she set foot in Gainesville with a coffee invite. Monserez followed every road game religiously online and took part in the group text afterward. Repeated viewings of Cameron Diaz in "The Holiday" added to giggles and bonding with her teammates.
"It's crazy how 18 girls can be so close," she said. "We all love the song 'Caroline' by Amine. We all know all the words. So we sing that in the locker room before the games."
Monserez grew up a tennis, basketball and volleyball player, starting out as a setter at age 7. Her family is full of athletes. In addition to Madison, her dad played basketball in Europe, one cousin played baseball at Xavier, while other cousins played basketball at Butler and Lehigh. Her mom, a Gator alumna, competes in the open tennis league in Orlando, and her younger sis, Marlie, has already committed to Florida volleyball for 2018.
Allie and Marlie have never played together, but will get the chance when Allie is a senior and Marlie is a freshman.
They'll be lots of volleyball to play before then. Florida (17-2, 6-1), winner of 21 SEC titles under Wise, sits third behind unbeaten conference rivals Kentucky and Missouri.
"I see us having a really great season and making it to the final four," Monserez said. "If we're all playing Gator volleyball, I know something really special is going to happen this year."