Sept. 22, 2006
Game Book in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
BATON ROUGE, La. — The South Carolina volleyball team dropped a 3-0 (25-30, 31-33, 28-30) decision to 13th-ranked LSU on Friday in Baton Rouge, La., to fall to 9-5 overall and 2-1 in the Southeastern Conference. The Tigers improved to 11-1 and 3-0 in the SEC.
After a kill by USC sophomore middle blocker Belita Salters made game one’s score 14-12 in favor of LSU, the Tigers ran off three in a row to lead by five. The Gamecocks answered behind the serving of senior setter Iris Santos, winning four consecutive rallies to close the gap to one, 17-16. LSU, though, went on to grab a 28-21 advantage following a service error by South Carolina before winning the game by five.
South Carolina nearly took the second stanza, leading by as many as five at 22-17 after Santos dumped a ball for a kill. The Gamecocks still had a four-point lead up 26-22 before LSU won three straight to trail by one. After a kill by Salters and an assisted block from Santos and senior outside hitter Shonda Cole, USC had two game points at 29-27. The Tigers tallied back-to-back kills to tie the score, but USC managed another game point at 31-30 after another block assist from Santos and freshman middle blocker Ivana Kujundzic. LSU went on to win game two after a pair of hitting errors by the Gamecocks and a block assist.
In the third game, USC went on a 5-0 run after falling behind 12-10 to lead by three. Following a timeout by LSU, the Tigers won the next five points off four kills and a service ace. South Carolina responded by winning six of the ensuing seven points thanks to three kills by Cole, two by sophomore outside hitter Marija Milosevic and one from senior outside hitter Lynae Vanden Hull to go up 21-18. LSU was able to win the next four rallies to regain the lead before closing out the match.
Cole led the Gamecocks in kills with 13 and added five blocks as well. Salters tallied 11 kills to tie a career-high she set two matches ago versus Auburn. Santos had 38 assists and three blocks. Kujundzic led all players in the contest with a career-best six blocks.
The Tigers’ 55 kills was 11 more than South Carolina’s total, but the Gamecocks out-dug LSU 50-46. USC also had 10 blocks to LSU’s nine. The Tigers hit at a .204 (55-25-147) clip compared to .177 (44-22-124) for USC.
South Carolina next plays in Fayetteville, Ark., to face the Lady Razorbacks of Arkansas at 2:30 p.m. EST.
