Sept. 16, 2005
CHARLESTON, S.C. – South Carolina volleyball fell to 6-3 on the season Thursday night as the Gamecocks suffered a 3-0 loss to the College of Charleston Cougars. C of C won 30-27, 31-29 and 30-23 and improved to 9-1. Shonda Cole recorded her ninth straight double-figure kill match as she registered 18 and hit .255. Lauren Ford followed with 10 and a .320 percentage. This marks the first loss to the Cougars since 1993.
“College of Charleston had better ball control than us. We continue to get better, but it is still not enough,” said head coach Nancy Somera. “We still need to train and our schedule has not allowed us to do that. We need to regroup and that seems to be difficult right now. Our biggest challenge right now is that we need to get better in how we think competitively.”
The Gamecocks got off to a flat start in game one and rallied with a slight 3-0 run at the end, but the Cougars were able to pull out the 30-27 win and take a 1-0 lead in the match. After being down by as much as nine, a kill by Cole at the 28-25 mark brought USC to within three points. Then a ball handling error by Lauren Ford catapulted the Cougars to within game point, 29-25. South Carolina continued to fight and tightened up play, as they were able to add two more points on two kills by Ford. Down 29-27, USC kept a rally going but fell short when Rebecca Wieters recorded a kill to win the game.
South Carolina hit .280 in the game with 18 kills and four errors, while C of C hit .302 with 23 kills and seven errors. Cole led with eight kills and Wieters had seven.
The Gamecocks roared out to a 7-0 lead in game two before the Cougars charged back with an 8-2 run to make the score 8-9. After several lead changes, C of C jumped out to a three-point lead, 26-23 before USC called a timeout. After the timeout, the Gamecocks tied the game 26-26 on a kill by Nicole Miller and block assists by Miller and Cole. Another error by C of C put USC ahead before the Cougars took their turn and called timeout.
Down 28-27, an attack error by Alexcis Thomson put C of C up by two and within game point. The Gamecocks quickly responded with a kill by Cole to force a 29-28 score. A C of C attack error by Amanda Timmers then tied the game 29-all and the battle pushed on. The error, however, would be the last point in the game for the Gamecocks, as Timmers immediately followed with a kill to put the Cougars up 30-29. A service ace by Marie Dobrenz clinched the 31-29 win and the 2-0 lead before the break.
The Gamecocks continued to struggle in game three and were unable to capture a lead and maintain it. Despite recording their best hitting game of the night, USC was out hit .375 to .333, and posted 22 kills to the Cougars 19. C of C sealed the match on a kill by Tiffany Blum, who finished the night with 13 and hit .321.
USC will conclude action at the C of C Invitational Friday night when they play Houston at 5 p.m. at John Kresse Arena.
