They say that “to be the best you have to beat the best.”

That is the mantra for the Georgia volleyball squad as they head to Florida to face the hated 11th-ranked Gators in Gainesville tonight at 7. Florida began the season winning its first 11 matches before traveling to Colorado State and losing its only match of the season.

The Gators are the favorite to win the Southeastern Conference, and if Georgia wants to impress the NCAA committee and reach its goal of making the NCAA tournament, there’s not a better team to beat than Florida.

“Florida is supposed to be one of the best teams in the conference, so beating them would be great,” sophomore outside hitter Erika Clark said.

The Bulldogs (7-3) will be back in action after a week off of competition. Last weekend Georgia traveled to Texas where they played the ranked Longhorns in the Texas Invitational. The Bulldogs came up short in that match, but were pleased with their four-set defeat.

“Even though we lost to Texas – in my opinion – we played well,” Clark said. “The competition in Texas, in general, was just really good and that kind of made (us) step (our) play up.”

Georgia will have to step its play up even more if they are expected to beat the tough Gators. It is something that Clark thinks they have the tools to do.

“We have a lot of young players that are stepping up and we are all coming together well, so hopefully we can get it done,” she said.

Georgia’s weekend doesn’t end after the match. They will then travel to Columbia, South Carolina to play the Gamecocks (8-1), ending its season high nine game road trip that began two weeks ago at the Duke Invitational.