Nov. 11, 2005
COLUMBIA, S.C. – After falling behind 1-0 in the match, South Carolina won three straight to defeat the Auburn Tigers 3-1 Friday night, snapping a six-match losing streak. The Gamecocks won 23-30, 30-27, 30-24, 30-21 and remain in the hunt for a berth to the SEC Tournament next week. USC has one final SEC match of the season and will host Alabama Sunday afternoon at 1:30 p.m. Admission is $1 with a USC vs. Florida football ticket stub. Sunday is also Senior Day and the Gamecock program will recognize Lauren Ford, Sarah Morgan and Nicole Miller.
USC is now 11-14 and 4-11 in the SEC while Auburn falls to 8-15 and 2-13 in the conference. Ironically, Auburn is the last team the Gamecocks defeated and that too was a 3-1 victory back on Oct. 16 in Auburn. A Georgia loss and a Gamecock win would place South Carolina in the Tournament. Should USC lose and UGA win, both teams would have five conference wins and Georgia would win the head-to-head tie.
Junior Shonda Cole led the team with 19 kills, followed by freshman Marija Milosevic with 13 and Miller with 12. Milosevic also recorded a double-double as she registered 11 digs on the night.
The Tigers took a 1-0 lead against USC after winning 30-23. Auburn hit .212 while USC was held to .122. Defense was the difference in game one as the Tigers outdug the Gamecocks 21-10. Rachel Shanks and Jelena Sekulic led with five digs apiece.
USC started off with the lead but Auburn tied it up at the 13-13 mark and from there was able to establish a lead and build on it. The Tigers went on a 6-0 run before USC scored again. With Auburn up 24-19, the Tigers continued to add to its lead including four kills by Jennifer Amobi to bring the AU within game point, 29-21. However, the Gamecocks were able to keep the game alive with a kill by Cole and a service ace by Alexcis Thomson, giving USC two more points. Unfortunately, that would be all the Gamecocks would earn in game one after Julie Bosler recorded a kill to win the game 30-23.
South Carolina evened the score in game two and won 30-27. In a close match throughout, the Gamecocks eventually grabbed and sustained the lead after a service error by Auburn tied it 22-22. USC went up two points after a kill by Milosevic and an attack error by Amobi. USC then recorded three more points to extend the 6-0 run and posted a 27-22 lead over the Tigers. With the Gamecocks up 29-23, Auburn hustled a scare into USC and went on a 4-0 run to cut the score to two, 29-27. Milosevic then came through with a kill for the Gamecocks and put the game in the books in favor of the Garnet and Black.
USC came back in games three and four with grit and scrapped its way to the win. South Carolina hit an impressive .606 with 20 kills and zero errors in game four in addition to posting four total blocks to the Tigers’ none. After five tie scores and two lead changes in game three, USC kept its momentum in check and remained in control in game four and never fell behind. The Gamecocks’ winning match point was a kill by Cole and USC won 30-21, and extended its win streak over Auburn to 14 matches.
