Sept. 16, 2005
CHARLESTON, S.C. – Despite scoring a record 38 points in the game three loss, South Carolina persevered and pulled out a challenging 3-1 victory over the Houston Cougars 30-23, 30-21, 38-40, 30-28. The win also snaps a two-match losing streak for the Gamecocks who improve to 7-3. Houston is now 5-6. Iris Santos recorded her second triple-double of the season with 12 kills, 57 assists and 13 digs. Shonda Cole and Sarah Morgan both had double-doubles. Cole with a career high 25 kills and 10 digs, and Morgan had a season high 10 kills and 17 digs.
“I think in game three I grew a few gray hairs. That was volleyball. We never quit, we stayed in the match and kept our fight. We were focused the right way and were able to keep our focus on the process, not the outcome,” said head coach Nancy Somera.
Down two games to none, Houston bounced back after the break and forced the Gamecocks to play catch-up. USC scrapped their way to a tie after being down 13-17. From there, the Gamecocks would stay in the game and the onsets of a fierce battle were in the making. After several runs and lead changes on both sides, it would come down to making no mistakes that would decide the win. In what will go down as the highest scoring game ever for the Gamecocks, USC fell short and lost 38-40 in a thrilling game three.
A kill by Cole put the Gamecocks ahead 29-30, but the Cougars followed with a kill by Becca Sartori to tie it. After the 30-30 mark, USC recorded six kills in their next eight points, while Houston scored seven of their last 10 points on kills. Tied 38-38 after a kill by Cole, Jennifer Hohl gave Houston the edge when she hit one past the Gamecock defense. An attack error by USC’s Miller gave the 38-40 game win to the Cougars and forced game four.
The Gamecocks’ previous record was 34 points and that came last year in a 3-2 loss against Kentucky. The total 78 points for the 38-40 game is also a record for a combined game total. The previous combined game score record was also in the Kentucky match. Kentucky won 34-36 to total 70 points.
The match remained on the line in game four and neither team really pulled into a safe lead. USC survived the game down to the wire and clinched a 30-28 win to take the match 3-1. The Gamecocks’ final two points came on back-to-back kills by Lauren Ford and Cole. For the game, USC hit .314 with 18 kills and two errors while Houston had 23 kills with 12 errors to hit .208.
“Game three could have been a huge momentum force for Houston but we regrouped nicely. I was very glad to see that,” said Somera. “We got very nice play off the bench from Petra Lorenzi and Lexi Thomson in game four and that was huge for us.”
Early in the match, South Carolina took a 1-0 lead in the match and snapped a six-game losing streak after winning 30-23. The game win was the first for USC in two matches. Up 27-23, USC scored its final three points on two kills by Morgan and an attack error by Houston. USC posted 22 kills and hit .396 in the game, while Houston had 14 kills and hit .119. The Gamecocks also out dug the Cougars 36-20.
USC controlled game two and won 30-21 to step out and take a 2-0 lead into the break. USC hit a game high .552 with 18 kills and two errors, and held Houston to a paltry .133 with 13 kills and nine errors. The Gamecocks also put numbers up defensively as they registered five total team blocks, while Houston had zero. Nicole Miller hit a perfect 1.000 for game two as she had eight kills and no errors in eight attempts.
As a team, the Gamecocks also produced at the net with 14 total blocks to Houston’s four. USC hit .362 and had a season high 82 kills.
