Sept. 19, 2014

Final Stats | Photo Gallery

COLUMBIA, S.C. — The South Carolina volleyball team overcame a 2-1 deficit to top Eastern Kentucky in five sets on Friday night in the Carolina Classic, defeating the Colonels 25-21, 22-25, 23-25, 25-19 and 15-6 at the Carolina Volleyball Center.

The Gamecocks extend their winning streak to six matches as they improve to 9-2 on the season. Eastern Kentucky drops to 9-6 overall.

After falling behind 2 sets to one, Carolina and Eastern Kentucky fought to a 12-12 tie in the fourth set. However, the Gamecocks outscored the Colonels 13-7 down the stretch, including four blocks, to force a fifth set. In the deciding set, Carolina jumped out to a 6-1 lead, but the Colonels made things interesting with a 5-2 run to pull to within 8-6. The Gamecocks were not phased as they closed out the match on a 7-0 run behind three kills from sophomore KoKo Atoa-Williams and a pair of kills by sophomore Jacqy Angermiller.

The Gamecocks outhit the Colonels .169-.085 on the night and held the advantage in kills (57-55), and blocks 17-8), while the teams were even in digs (77-77).

Atoa-Williams paced Carolina with her team-leading 17th double-double of the season, finishing with 17 kills, 10 digs and four blocks. Angermiller was huge for the Gamecocks defensively as she finished with a career-high 11 block assists, which is tied for the second most in a five-set match in school history. She also had four kills on the night. Freshman outside hitter Taylr McNeil contributed her second career double-double with 15 kills, 12 digs and four blocks. Junior middle blocker Darian Dozier added nine kills, six digs and six blocks, while sophomore middle Katlyn McDaniel pitched in six kills and three blocks.

Freshman setter Allie Monserez recorded her third double-double of the season for the Gamecocks, with 29 assists and 15 digs, while junior setter Kellie McNeil had 13 assists, four digs, four blocks and a pair of kills. Senior libero Mikaela Christiaansen collected18 digs.

Junior outside hitter ally Peters paced Eastern Kentucky with 17 kills, while Rachel Vick and Celina Sanks had 14 and 11 kills, respectively. Setter Abey Cvelbar distributed 43 assists and had 17 digs, while libero Dena Ott tallied a match-high 27 digs in the loss.

Match Changer
The Gamecocks hit .421 with just one attack error to dominate the fifth set, including a 7-0 run to clinch the match.

Key Stat
South Carolina out-blocked Eastern Kentucky 17-8 led by 11 block assists by Angermiller, tied for the second most in a five-set match in school history.

Notables
• The Gamecocks have won six straight matches, their longest winning streak since winning nine straight in 2012.
• Angermiller finished with a career-high 11 block assists, which is tied for the second most in a five-set match in school history.
• Atoa-Williams recorded her team-leading fifth double-double of the season with 17 kills and 10 digs.
• Monserez (29 assists, 15 digs) and Taylr McNeil (15 kills, 12 digs) also had double-doubles.

Tweet of the Match

@gamecockvolley The will,the fight,to overcome and take what is your. #GamecockProud #IWILL #GamecockNation #Gamecocks #WECOCKY

— Charlie Moore Jr. (@USCGamecockBoy) September 20, 2014

Quotable
South Carolina head coach Scott Swanson
“Eastern Kentucky was a very good team, one of the best teams we’ve played so far this year. We were resilient when it mattered. We had our ups and downs and struggled with our serve receive and were pretty high error the first few games. When it really mattered and our kids decided this is our home court and we were going to protect our house, we really stepped up.”

Up Next
The Gamecocks will close out the Carolina Classic on Saturday against The Citadel. First serve is set for 3 p.m. at the Carolina Volleyball Center. The match will be broadcast live on the SEC Network+ digital platform.