Gamecocks Fall to No. 22 Tennessee

COLUMBIA, S.C. – Gamecock volleyball let an upset opportunity slip through their fingers Friday night, dropping a four-set match to No. 22 Tennessee (13-3, 5-1 SEC) despite holding late leads in the third and fourth sets. South Carolina (11-4, 3-2 SEC) had standout performances up and down the lineup, with Kyla Manning’s season-high 20 kills leading the offense and Mikayla Robinson and Ellie Ruprich combining to have a hand in all 14 of the team’s total blocks in the match.  
 
SET ONE: The opening set would be a shootout, but Tennessee was able to use an early run to maintain a lead in a 25-21 win. With South Carolina ahead 6-4, the Volunteers scored six points in a row and never looked back. Four different Gamecock attackers finished with three or more kills in the game, but a four-point swing behind the service line made the difference in a set where both sides had almost identical offensive numbers. Tennessee had a pair of aces with no errors committed on serve, while South Carolina went without an ace but made two errors. 
 
SET TWO: Manning took the reins of the offense and guided her side to a convincing win to even the match by a 25-17 score. The pin hitter had nine kills on 12 swings and did not commit a single error, setting the pace for a Gamecock attack that racked up 18 kills and a .516 hitting percentage to bowl over the Vols. South Carolina scored the first four points of the set and would lead by as much as eight points while playing from out front the entire game.
 
SET THREE: The third set would see the Gamecocks build another big lead, this time carried by Robinson at the net. She had six of the team’s 15 kills in the set and also added two solo blocks. South Carolina held a 16-10 lead late before the Volunteers started to chip away at the deficit. After trading points, Tennessee made its move with the Gamecocks leading 22-16. The Volunteers scored a 7-0 run that started from a controversial challenge that went against South Carolina followed by a bad-luck attack from Manning that the Vols dug over the net and fell on the Gamecock back line for another point. The run ended with Tennessee up 23-22 and the visitors completed the comeback with a 25-23 final.
 
SET FOUR: South Carolina again built a comfortable lead to start the must-win fourth, going up 12-8 thanks to a dominating effort from Ruprich at the net. Of the team’s first nine points, four came off blocks from the Gamecock sophomore middle – including two solo stuffs. All told, the team had seven blocks in the set with Ruprich having a hand in five of them. A run for Tennessee tied the game up at 14 and it would be back-and-forth action the rest of the way. There would be seven ties and four lead changes from there, but it was South Carolina that had the first set-point opportunity at 24-22. Tennessee got a kill and a Gamecock error to tie it one last time at 24, then closed the match with a kill and a service ace to complete the 4-0 run. 
 
NOTABLE

• Ruprich’s four solo blocks is a career high for the sophomore, and ties her with Mikayla Robinson’s game against UCF on Sept. 3 of this season as the only two Gamecocks in the rally-scoring era (since 2001) with four solo blocks in a four-set match. It is the ninth time overall since 2001 that a Gamecock had four solo blocks in a match of any length. 
• Manning’s 20 kills are the most for a Gamecock so far this season. She was also the last member of the team to reach 20 kills entering the night, coming on Jan. 30 of last season in five sets at Alabama.
• This is the 63^rd time under head coach Tom Mendoza that the Gamecocks finished a match with a higher hitting percentage than their opponents; this is just the fourth time out of those 63 games where South Carolina lost.
• The only category the team did not enjoy an advantage on Friday was behind the service line. Tennessee had six aces and just five errors on serve, compared to two aces and eight errors for South Carolina.
• Four South Carolina individuals reached double-digits for kills (Manning, Robinson, McCutcheon, Whitesides) and all four hit over .300 as well.
• Tennessee entered the series holding opponents to a .148 hitting percentage for the season, which ranked 17^th-best in the country, but South Carolina finished with a .311 hitting percentage.

QUOTABLE
Head coach Tom Mendoza on the loss
You know you’re in a good conference when you feel like you played well and you lose and I think that’s the way we feel tonight. We feel like we should have won set three, feel like we should have won set four, but we didn’t make enough plays down the stretch and let both get away. It’s a good learning experience for our players of all ages, both our more experienced players and our players with four years of eligibility left – don’t focus on the score, just keep making plays … Credit Tennessee and especially that rotation that they were in both sets. The server came in and made 11 serves or whatever it was combined between the two sets and their blockers made plays. Credit Tennessee for the way they played at the end of both of those sets.

UP NEXT
The rematch with Tennessee on Saturday is set for a 5 p.m. first serve, the game will air on the SEC Network+.