Gamecocks Face SEC Heavy Hitters in Split Weekend

COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina volleyball faces its toughest weekend of conference play to date this weekend, when it faces two of the best offenses in the SEC in Kentucky and Missouri. The Gamecocks host the 17th-ranked Wildcats at the Carolina Volleyball Center Friday night at 7 p.m. and then heads to Columbia west for a Sunday match at Missouri with a 2 p.m. ET first serve.

Both weekend opponents rank in the NCAA’s top 20 for RPI; Kentucky (18-6, 11-2 SEC) comes into Friday ranked 14th in the country for kills (14.31) and Missouri (16-6, 8-4 SEC) boasts the second-best hitting percentage in the country (.307). South Carolina has won five straight in SEC play, moving its record to 16-8 overall and 8-4 in conference matches. Last weekend, the team secured a pair of road sweeps at Mississippi State and Ole Miss.

General single-game tickets are on sale, $5 for adults and $3 for youth. A reminder, students attending matches at the Carolina Volleyball Center should note that their entrance to the facility has changed for 2019. Instead of entering through the Park Street side of the gym, students should now enter at the top of the building, located by the Blossom and Assembly Street intersection. Ticket holders should still plan to enter via the Park Street entrance.

Please refer to the PARKING MAP for a bird’s-eye view of the Carolina Volleyball Center and surrounding areas.

PREVIOUS WEEKEND NOTABLES (@Mississippi State, @Ole Miss)

• Mikayla Shields hit a pair of personal milestones in the second set at Mississippi State, reaching 1,400 career kills, and moving into the top 10 for career digs in our rally-scoring era with 823. She is just the fourth member of the program to reach 1,400 kills.
• Shields also finished with a double-double of 15 kills and 13 digs against the Bulldogs, her third of the year. She now sits in sole possession of seventh place in program history for career double-doubles, at 28. Only Juliette Thévenin (2010-2013) has more over the last decade.
• With 20.5 points total (15 kills, 2.5 blocks, three aces), Shields tied her own career high for points in a three-set match. It’s the sixth-highest point total in a three-set match in the program’s rally-scoring era.
• Addie Bryant led the team with 18 digs, pushing her two-game total vs. the Bulldogs to 37 over six sets this season.
• The win in Starkville was the program’s 200th win in SEC play, dating back to South Carolina’s first season in the conference in 1991.
• Sunday’s win marked the first time in the program’s SEC history (since 1991) that the Gamecocks won five-straight matches in straight sets. The team hadn’t even had a five-match SEC win streak in general since 2002.
• With a .301 hitting percentage as a team Sunday, the Gamecocks have hit over .300 in ten matches this season. That has not occurred since 2016.
• Mikayla Shields finished with 12 kills and 11 digs, giving her back-to-back double-doubles for the weekend. It’s the senior’s first time with consecutive double-doubles this season and third time overall in her career.
• Courtney Koehler also went for a double-double, the 21st of her career and team-high fifth of the season. Her 42 assists are the most in a three-set match this season, a personal best for a three-set match and is 11th-most for a three-set match in the program’s rally-scoring era.
• Mikayla Robinson’s 12 kills give her double figures for the sixth time in SEC play this season and 10 overall for the year. She had eight all of last season.
• Ole Miss finished the match hitting .096, the third SEC rival who was held to under .100 this season and fifth opponent overall.

SCOUTING KENTUCKY
The defending SEC champions are fighting to repeat in 2019, entering the week at 11-2 in conference play and 18-6 overall. Senior Leah Edmond’s 4.24 kills per set ranks 25th in the country and paces the high-powered offense (14.35/set, .267 hitting percentage), but it has been the addition of transfer Leah Meyer that has been the x-factor for the Wildcats this season. After three seasons at Duke, Meyer came to Lexington and now averages 2.14 kills per set with a .398 hitting percentage, anchoring the middle attack that has been a hallmark for the Kentucky program in recent years. On defense, Meyer’s 1.20 blocks per set leads the team at the net, but libero Gabby Curry has been the true standout for UK. After spending her summer with the U.S. National Team, Curry now has 4.48 digs per set, helping her team limit opponents to the lowest hitting percentage in the SEC .143.

SCOUTING MISSOURI
One of the best offenses in the nation await the Gamecocks on Sunday, as Missouri boasts the deepest attack in the SEC. The Tigers far and away the conference’s top team hitting percentage (.309) and kills per set total (14.45), and among the 335 Division I teams nationwide, Missouri ranks second in hitting percentage, ninth in kills per set and eighth in aces per set. Junior Kylie Deberg is making her case for the conference player of the year, leading the SEC in kills, aces and points, but she’s certainly not a one-woman show. Missouri has four other hitters in triple digits for kills, three of whom are hitting over .300. The offense’s success has made up for a defense that ranks in the bottom third in the SEC; the Tigers are dead last in digs, 11th in opponent hitting percentage and 10th in blocks among their conference rivals.

TRENDING TOPICS
In the last five matches…

• The Gamecocks have out-hit opponents, .343 to .181 and average almost three more kills per set. Mikayla Robinson and Mikayla Shields have combined to average half of the team’s total kills (7.74 per set) while hitting .384 and .457, respectively.
• The offense has been spread out, with five different hitters posting 20 or more kills in the span.
• Addie Bryant has been impressive on the back line of the defense, averaging 4.73 digs per set in the last five matches.
• The team’s blocking numbers have been strong, with 38 in the last five matches. Mikayla Robinson has contributed 20 blocks in that span, more than the combined total of the five opponents, who have 17.

BRYANT ON A SEC HOT STREAK
Addie Bryant’s arrival to South Carolina last season was a major part in the team’s turn-around performance in 2018, and now as the team’s full-time libero, the senior from San Antonio, Texas is blossoming. Her 35 digs against the Razorbacks on Oct. 13 in the third-highest total in the program’s 47-year history, behind Hannah Lawing (38 vs. Mississippi St., 11/13/2010), Sarah Cline (36 vs. Arkansas, 11/2/2007) and Jodi Thompson (36 vs. Louisiana Tech, 9/19/1992). While the performance at Arkansas was no doubt her most memorable match as a Gamecock, it also represents a big jump she has made in SEC play. Bryant averaged 3.18 digs per set with a .958 serve reception percentage in non-conference play, but in her seven conference matches she is at 4.68 and .974, respectively.

“She came to us with a lot of experience, those two years of junior college I think were a big benefit for her but in some ways we’re sad we only get her for only two years,” head coach Tom Mendoza said, “because I think she’s still learning how to be successful at this level and how to be elite and I think she’s gone from just playing her role to being one of our difference-makers.”

GAMECOCKS MAKE HISTORY WITH SEC WEEKLY HONORS
For the first time in program history, two players from the Gamecock volleyball team earned SEC weekly awards in the same week, as Mikayla Robinson and McKenzie Moorman were recognized by the conference office on Oct. 28. Robinson earned SEC Offensive Player of the Week laurels and Moorman was tabbed as the SEC Freshman of the Week.

It was the third weekly award of Robinson’s career, but first for offensive player of the week. South Carolina’s last SEC honor for offense came from Juliette Thévenin in 2013. Moorman earned her Freshman of the Week honor just 24 hours removed from her first collegiate start; she is the first Gamecock since Mikayla Shields in 2016 to earn freshman of the week honors. Coupled with Claire Edwards’ Defensive Player of the Week recognition on Sept. 9, South Carolina has three different honorees in a single season for the first time since joining the conference in 1992.

VASTINE GROWS INTO LARGER ROLE IN 2019
Junior Jess Vastine saw her role expand greatly in head coach Tom Mendoza’s first year leading the program, developing more into a six-rotation left side attacker. Now in her second year with the defined role, the Wittmann, Ariz. native has made another big jump in production across the board. Already with a new single-season highs for service aces (24), attacks (553) and kills (171), Vastine is also on pace for personal bests in digs. Vastine also leads the team’s serve receive defense with 513 receptions and a .957 reception percentage.

LOOKING FOR ‘MOOR’ OUT OF MCKENZIE
A key piece to 2018’s NCAA tournament run was the emergence of senior Courtney Furlong, who totaled 94 kills with a .282 hitting percentage over the final 10 matches of the season after totaling 101 kills over 26 matches in the 2017 season as a whole. Freshman McKenzie Moorman is seeing that same impact now in 2019, coming into a major role over the last four matches to help the Gamecock offense roar into the final month of the regular season. 

Since entering as a sub in the third set of the team’s loss at Florida on Oct. 16, Moorman has 42 kills (2.80 per set) and is hitting .379. In her first collegiate start against Alabama on Oct. 27, the Elmhurst, Ill. native finished with 12 kills and a .706 hitting percentage, the highest by any Gamecock with double-figure kills since 2017 and third-highest hitting percentage (min. 15 attacks) in the program’s rally-scoring era.

SHIELD BEARER
Last season, Mikayla Shields became the fifth junior in the program’s 47-year history to make it to 1,000 career kills in three seasons or less. Overall, she is 15th member of the program ever to reach 1,000 kills, and the fourth-fastest (making it in her 80th career game). Currently, Shields ranks fourth for career kills in the program record book and 21st among all active Division I attackers. In the team’s win at Mississippi State on Nov. 8, she reached 1,400 kills, the fourth member of the program to do so.

It isn’t just her production that’s impressive, Shields is also in rare company when it comes to efficiency. She passed 3,000 career attacks earlier this season, something only six other members of the program have achieved. Despite the workload, Shields still maintains a career hitting percentage of .291, good for seventh in program history (minimum 1,200 attacks). Among the six others with over 3,000 attacks, only program legend Lori Rowe (1983-86) also ranks in the top ten for hitting percentage.

FRESH LEGS
With 12 SEC matches in the books, South Carolina stands at just 40 sets played, thanks to 10 of those 12 matches finishing in just three sets. Since the conference went to an 18-match format in 2013, the lowest team set total is 59 for SEC play, accomplished in 2013. Overall, the team has played beyond three sets just eight times total, compared to 15 times in 2018 and 20 in 2017.

KOEHLER SETTING HER SIGHTS ON SC RECORDS
Senior Courtney Koehler has rocketed through the record book as she begins season four running the offense. Against Charlotte on Sept. 10, she surpassed Taylor Bruns’ record for most assists in the rally-scoring era (since 2001), and against High Point on Sept. 22 she passed 3,000 career assists. Only five other Gamecocks in the program’s 47-year history have reached 3,000. Scratching the top three marks from the sideout-scoring era will be a challenge, but Koehler did pass Jodi Thompson (1991-94) for the number five spot in the program’s all-time history in the win over Tennessee on Oct. 25.

HOME-COURT ADVANTAGE
The Carolina Volleyball Center has been one of the toughest venues in the country over the last three seasons. Of the program’s top ten crowds all time in the CVC, nine have come since 2016 and three of the top five came in 2018 alone. Last season, the Gamecocks went 11-2 in the CVC – its highest home win total since 2008. Through nine home matches this season, the team is 9-1 with an average attendance of 1,107.

WHEN THE GAMECOCKS WIN…

• The team is out-hitting the opposition .300 to .160, with Mikayla Robinson posting a .412 hitting percentage in wins compared to .293 in losses.
• The team averages almost a full ace per set more in wins than in losses (1.59 to 0.74). The trio of Claire Edwards, Mikayla Shields and Jess Vastine lead the way; they combine for 63 aces in the 16 wins but just nine in the eight losses.
• Mikayla Shields’ kill totals are somewhat comparable win (3.48) or lose (3.15), but her efficiency increases considerably in wins. She has hit .226 in the team’s eight losses compared to .348 in the 16 wins.

WHEN THE GAMECOCKS LOSE…

• The defense is allowing opponents to hit .281 in losses. Dating back to last season, the team is 34-2 when out-hitting its opponents, 2-14 when it does not.
• Opponents have exploited the serve game to an extreme degree in losses, with 30 more total aces than Carolina and over a full ace per set more (1.85 to 0.74) while committing the same number of errors (66). 
• The left side attack has scuffled in losses, with Jess Vastine and Britt McLean combining for a .105 hitting percentage and 3.59 kills per set.

EDWARDS PEAKING IN SENIOR CAMPAIGN
Year four has been a good one so far for Claire Edwards, who is on pace for a career year on offense and defense. Through 24 matches, Edwards already is averaging highs for points per set (2.47) and hitting percentage (.345) and has a new personal best for aces (17) and blocks (81) in a single season. The Columbia, S.C. native also earned SEC Defensive Player of the Week honors in September, the first weekly honor of her career.

SERVING GAME REMAINS FOCAL POINT FOR 2019
Despite bringing back all six position players for the fall, South Carolina had to replace a key member of last year’s tournament team. Libero Aubrey Ezell graduated as the program’s third-ranked contributor for service aces, pitching in 212 during her four years on campus, including a career-high 75 last fall. Her career total was double that of any other member during the program’s rally-scoring era, and she guided 2018’s team to its highest combined ace total since 2006 (173). With her departure, the team is looking for who can help fill her shoes. Of the six starters returning this year (Edwards, Koehler, McLean, Robinson, Shields, Vastine), only Shields and Koehler currently have a career ace total above 60.

After a slow start to the season, the team has stabilized both its serve and serve reception games as conference play enters week seven. In non-conference play, the team committed 115 service errors (2.56 per set) and yielded 1.67 aces per set to opponents. Through 12 SEC matches, the team is still committing a health amount of errors, but have jumped to a higher aces per set average (1.42).

PROGRAM GREAT CALLY PLUMMER ENSHRINED IN 2019 HALL OF FAME CLASS
Volleyball alumna Cally Plummer (1998-2002) was inducted as part of the nine-member class for the 2019 University of South Carolina Athletics Hall of Fame on Thursday, Oct. 17. She is the fourth member of the program to be honored, and one of just 187 members total across all sports in the Hall of Fame’s 52-year history. 

Plummer is one of just four Gamecocks in program history to be a four-time All-SEC performer. As a right-side attacker, Plummer is still the program’s all time in career aces, and ranks fifth in career kills and sixth in career attacks. For her career she finished with 1,295 kills, 233 aces, 956 digs, and 270 blocks, and the Gamecocks made the NCAA tournament in all four of her seasons on the court. Previous alumnae in the Hall of Fame are Ashley Edlund (1995-98), Heather Larkin (1994-97) and Shonda Wallace (Cole) (2003-06).

ALL TIME RECORDS

• South Carolina holds an 833-648 (.561) all-time record, dating back to 1973. The team’s 800th win of all time came on Aug. 25, 2018 against Clemson.
• The Gamecocks joined the SEC for volleyball in 1991, and have an all-time conference record of 201-275 (.419). The 200th SEC win came on Nov. 8 at Mississippi State.
• In matches in the Carolina Volleyball Center, Carolina is 210-114 (.648) overall and 107-97 (.525) in SEC matches.
• Tom Mendoza became the program’s 13th head coach on Jan. 3, 2018. This is his fourth season overall as a head coach, with a career record of 83-36.