Oct. 31, 2004
Lexington, Ky. – In what looked like a chance to snap a losing streak, the South Carolina volleyball team surrendered a three-game rally to the Kentucky Wildcats and lost 3-2 Sunday afternoon at Memorial Coliseum. Up 2-0, USC lost the next three games and suffered their first sweep by Kentucky since 1999. Game scores were 30-24, 30-20, 23-30, 34-36, 12-15. The Gamecocks fall to 11-10 and 4-8 in the SEC while UK improves to 12-11 and 3-9.
Shonda Cole led the team with 19 kills and hit .368 while Nicole Miller followed with 14 kills and six block assists. Lauren Ford posted 11 kills to hit .308 but it wasn’t enough to pull USC through.
“With the 2-0 lead in the match, I think we got ahead of ourselves and lost focus,” said head coach Kim Hudson. “Kentucky came out of the break ready to play and we didn’t adjust. It is always tough to lose.”
In what was a messy match, both teams had problems with attack and service errors. Combined, there were 29 service errors for the match and only 15 aces. USC had five of those aces.
In a quick game one, the Gamecocks took an early lead before the Wildcats were able to tie at 13-13. USC recorded one of its two service aces in the game to take a 22-18 lead and from there, Carolina would allow only UK to score six more points and eventually claim the 30-24 game one win. USC hit .294 and had only four attack errors while the Wildcats posted nine to hit .105. Miller hit a game high .714 with five kills and zero errors in seven attempts.
USC continued to keep their attack errors low in game two as the Gamecocks had only three to UK’s 12. In the first two games combined, USC registered seven attack errors to Kentucky’s 21. Carolina posted 11 kills and hit .235 for a .265 average at the break. The Gamecocks tied the game 9-9 on a service ace by Lauren Ford and from there, USC was able to build on its lead and eventually embark on a 10-point 30-20 win. The Gamecocks went up 2-0 in the match as Ford and Lynae Vanden Hull connected for block assists to give USC game point.
In South Carolina’s first two serve attempts during game three, they hit right into the net to record back-to-back errors. That gave UK a 5-2 lead to start the game. Service errors were a problem for USC as they had five in game three alone and UK had three. The Wildcats turned the tables on USC as the Gamecocks were held to .162 in hitting and had nine errors. The Wildcats hit .303 and had only four errors.
After being down by seven at the 22-15 mark, the Gamecocks charged back and pulled to within four as Ford and Panzau both recorded block assists to help a USC rally but UK called a time out to regroup. The Wildcats came out and scored to go up 25-20. Jenni Casper recorded her third ace of the match to put the Wildcats up 28-22 and an error would give Kentucky game point. USC would manage only three more points as Kentucky took game three 30-23 and forced a game four.
Game four was a see-saw battle. USC had a 25-21 lead in game four as the Wildcats turned up the pressure. An error by Vanden Hull cut USC’s lead to three but then back-to-back errors by UK put USC back up by five, 27-22. After calling a timeout, the Wildcats then scored four straight points on two errors and two kills, including a looper just over the net by Cunningham to come within one. Leigh Marcum then slammed a kill to tie it 27-27 and UK took the lead on a kill by Sarah Spinner. Eight more ties and lead changes would occur before a winner was decided. USC had the lead at 29-28 and 30-29 but would only tie the game to stay alive the rest of the way.
A kill by Cole tied it for the Gamecocks 34-34. USC would then see game four slip away as Spinner connected on a kill from Marcum to go up 35-34. The Wildcats would clinch the win on an attack error by the Gamecocks to win 36-34 and tie the match 2-2.
One improvement for USC in game four was serving. The Gamecocks had only one service error while UK had five. On the hitting side however, Carolina was held to .082 hitting, their lowest of the match.
Game five was all Kentucky as the Wildcats won 15-12. USC’s strongest run in the game was three straight kills by Cole, and Sarah Morgan as they pushed the Gamecocks to within one, 7-6. But the Wildcats didn’t let up and returned from a timeout to score and maintain their lead. UP Up 14-10, UK had a service error then an attack error to help USC but after another timeout, Amy Kaplan posted a kill to earn the victory 15-12 and the come from behind 3-2 win.
The Gamecocks will play their final home SEC series of the season when they host LSU and Arkansas on Friday, Nov. 5 and Sunday, Nov. 7.
