Nov. 9, 2007
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Freshman Megan Laughlin had 13 kills for Carolina, but Kentucky had four players with double-digit kills to take a 3-0 sweep, 30-19, 30-24, 30-28, on Friday night at Memorial Coliseum. The Wildcats moved to 20-8, 11-6 in the Southeastern Conference, while the Gamecocks dropped to 12-14, 5-12 in league play.
Laughlin was the only Gamecock with double-digit kills, while fellow rookie Jordan Bradosky had a double-double with 20 assists and 10 digs. Sophomore libero Sarah Cline had 14 digs to top Carolina. Junior Belita Salters had seven kills and seven blocks.
Nicole Britenriker led the Wildcats with 14 kills. Queen Nzenwa and Sarah Mendoza had 11 a piece, while Lauren Rapp added 10. Rapp and Alisa Pierce both had nine digs to lead Kentucky.
Kentucky handily got the game one victory. After a three-point Carolina run cut Kentucky’s lead to 11-9, the Wildcats put together an impressive streak, getting 10 of the next 11 points, including seven in a row, to take a 21-10 lead. The Big Blue had only one mishap in the stretch, when Salters blocked Nzenwa’s attack. After Salters ended the streak with a smash, the Wildcats tacked on two more on a Mendoza kill and a Gamecock error. The teams traded side outs with one exception till a Carolina service error ended the frame. Mendoza had six kills in the game, while Nzenwa had five kills and two blocks. The Wildcats hit .429 in the win.
The Wildcats took an 8-3 advantage, led by a pair of kills from Britenriker, early in game two. South Carolina made it 9-7 after kills from Dani Bedore and Hannah Lawing and a block from Bedore and Salters. A Gamecock blocking error and a block from Nzenwa and setter Sarah Rumely put the Blue back up by four. The Garnet and Black chipped away at the lead, getting back-to-back points from Laughlin on a kill and a block with Bedore. Carolina later tied it at 17-17 after successive blocks from sophomore Meredith Moorhead, first assisted by Salters before a big solo block. The Wildcats came back with four consecutive points, two on Nzenwa kills, to take a 22-20 lead. Kentucky closed out the game on a three-point skein, getting two kills from Britenriker before she landed an ace to finish it out. Britenriker had eight kills and three blocks in game two to lead the Wildcats.
In game three, the Big Blue got an 11-9 lead after taking four out of five points. Rumely had the first two of the stretch, first on a dump and then an ace. Carolina went back ahead with three consecutive points, as a Laughlin solo block was surrounded by Wildcat errors. Kentucky went back ahead, 21-18, after taking six of nine points. Four different Wildcats had kills in the stretch that also included a block from Nzenwa and Rapp. The Gamecocks made a stand after the Big Blue got a 28-24 advantage. Kills from Laughlin sandwiched around a Bedore smash brought Carolina within one, forcing the Wildcats to call a timeout. The break did not help immediately, as sophomore Ivana Kujundzic made a kill to tie the game. But Kentucky would come back to close it out, getting a block from Rapp and Britenriker before Rumely ended it with a dump.
Kentucky hit .338 for the match, while Carolina turned in a .215 average. The Wildcats held advantages in kills, assists, digs and aces, while Carolina out-blocked Kentucky, 11-8.
The Gamecocks fly south to face Tennessee on Sunday afternoon at 1:30 p.m. at Stokely Athletic Center.
