Nov. 26, 2001

Knowing they had a bid locked up with their seventh 20 win season under Kim Christopher and a top 25 ranking all season, the South Carolina volleyball team waited until the last bracket was announced to find out their fate. The Gamecock volleyball team won’t have to travel far as USC will play on Thursday, Nov. 29 at North Carolina – a team they defeated on Saturday 3-1. The Gamecocks, ranked No. 23 nationally, received their fifth NCAA Tournament bid in seven years and have advanced to the second round four times.

The winner of the two Carolina’s match-up will play the winner of the Pepperdine-Georgia Southern match on Friday night. UNC won the ACC Tournament in 2001.

The South Carolina Gamecocks defeated their neighbors to the north, the North Carolina Tar Heels last Saturday, 3-1. Game scores were 30-32, 31-29,30-22, and 30-25. South Carolina hit .375 while their competitors from the north hit .247. Niece Curry and Nadia Sefferovich both collected 15 kills each.

“USC will be tough to beat at home. We are excited about playing them again and happy we are playing so close to home,” said USC Head Coach Kim Christopher. “We don’t much about Georgia Southern, but we saw Pepperdine in the spring. They are a big team and physical. But we won’t look the second round – we know it will be a tough match against North Carolina.”

USC is 5-9 all-time against North Carolina. It is 1-0 against Georgia Southern (3-0 in 1992) and 0-1 against Pepperdine (0-3 in 1989).

USC advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament in 2000, losing 15-13 in the fifth game to eventual NCAA champion Nebraska. The Gamecocks defeated George Washington 3-0 to have the right to play Nebraska.

USC has been ranked in the USA Today/AVCA top 25 all season. They are also ranked No. 22 by Volleyball magazine.

“It feels great to be going to the NCAA Tournament again this year,” said junior middle blocker Berna Dwyer. “We just played North Carolina. I don’t know much about Georgia Southern, but we played Pepperdine at a spring tournament last year in California.”

“Our team chemistry is where we want it to be heading into the NCAA Tournament,” said outside hitter Nadia Sefferovich. “We just played North Carolina so we are both familiar with each other, but the NCAA Tournament is different. We will have to go their ready to play.”