Volleyball Routs Clemson in Friday Matinee

COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina ran its win streak over Clemson to six with a dominating sweep Friday afternoon, beating the Tigers 25-14, 25-23, 25-12 in front of a raucous crowd at the Carolina Volleyball Center. The Gamecocks improve to 4-1 for the season, powered by an offense that had four different hitters go for at least eight kills in the game. Clemson drops back to 2-2 for the fall. 
 
SET ONE: South Carolina broke away with a big run early to record a convincing result in the opening frame, winning 25-14. Out of a 4-all tie, Lauren McCutcheon sparked an 11-1 run from there with the freshman dropping in a pair of aces to go with kills from five different Gamecock hitters within that streak. Mikayla Robinson and Kyla Manning combined for eight of the team’s 13 kills in the game, South Carolina held a .346 to .136 advantage in hitting percentage in the set.
 
SET TWO: Clemson’s best chance to draw a set in its favor came in the second, as the Tigers used an early run to take a lead before losing it late in a 25-23 final for South Carolina. Clemson used four unanswered points to break a 9-9 tie and were able to draw out the lead until a Manning kill and back-to-back blocks for South Carolina made it 17-16 for the Gamecocks. McCutcheon and Manning posted eight kills without an error between them, helping Carolina survive a Clemson offense that hit .348 for the set.
 
SET THREE: The Gamecock defense led the way in shutting the door on Clemson in set three, using five blocks to see the Tigers record as many errors (8) as they had kills (8). South Carolina would not trail in the set, building a big lead early and pushing ahead by double digits for a 25-12 final margin. Robinson and McCutcheon combined for six kills on seven swings without an error, and Robinson also added three total blocks on the defensive side. 
 
NOTABLE

• With the win, South Carolina has a six-game win streak in the series with Clemson. The Gamecocks have not lost a home match in the series since 1994, a span of 10 matches.
• McCutcheon almost doubled her season total for aces in the win, recording four to push her season total to nine.
• Overall, South Carolina enjoyed a major advantage behind the service line. The team had six aces and eight errors, compared to two aces and 14 errors from Clemson.
• Freshman Oby Anadi made her debut for the team in set two and responded with a pair of kills and blocks.
• With eight more kills, Robinson moved past Megan Laughlin (2007-10) for the fifth-most career kills in the rally-scoring era (with 1,033).

UP NEXT
The team’s six-game home stand ends Friday night, when South Carolina faces UCF in a rematch of its weekend opener. Last night against the Knights, the Gamecocks pulled out a 3-0 sweep. The match will air on the SEC Network+ with a 7:30 p.m. first serve.