Robinson and Shields Power Gamecocks to Sweep of Mississippi State

COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina volleyball swept Mississippi State (11-5, 0-4 SEC) Sunday afternoon, 25-11, 25-23, 28-26. The Gamecocks saw the one-two punch of Mikayla Robinson and Mikayla Shields combine for 23 of the offense’s 46 total kills, and the South Carolina offense as a whole hit .356 in the match. With the win, the Gamecocks now stand at 10-6 overall, 2-2 in SEC play. 
 
SET ONE: The opening game featured perhaps the team’s most complete performance of the season, as the Gamecocks rolled to a 25-11 win. Offensively, the team went without a single attacking error and hit .522 in the set, with Mikayla Robinson leading the way with four kills on six attacks. It was the defense that would be key, though, as South Carolina totaled six blocks in the set to hold Mississippi State to a -.100 hitting percentage. Robinson and Holly Eastridge each record four total blocks, and whatever would get past the net was swept up by the team’s back-line defense. Addie Bryant finished the set with six digs, and the Bulldogs were limited to just seven kills.
 
SET TWO: The Robinson and Shields combination shined brightest in the second set, accounting for 11 of the team’s 15 kills in a 25-23 win to go up 2-0 in the match. The Bulldogs held the lead early, going up 14-11 before a 5-0 run by the Gamecocks swung the score to their favor for the remainder of the match. Jess Vastine served tough to key the burst, with Robinson chipping in a block and a kill in the run. Mississippi State was able to tie the set at 16 and 17, but Courtney Koehler put the score out of reach with a pair of service aces that led to another 5-0 run that pushed the lead to 22-17. Shields’ team-high sixth kill of the set would ice the win.
 
SET THREE: It would be a thrilling final set on both sides of the net, as both teams put up impressive numbers and South Carolina needed a key replay challenge call late to earn a 28-26 win and the sweep. After totaling just 17 kills combined in the first two sets, Mississippi State had 17 in the third set alone, but the Gamecocks countered with a game-high 19 kills and a .372 hitting percentage. Five different hitters put away three or more kills in the set for Carolina, but it would be two errors from the Bulldogs that made the difference down the stretch. 
 
The visitors had three set point opportunities at 24-23, 25-24 and 26-25, and appeared to win the set on a joust at the net that the Bulldogs won for the clinching point at 27-25. The Gamecocks challenged the call, and after review it was determined that the attacker hit the net tape on her follow-through. Carolina used the momentum from the call to secure the next two points to turn a would-be 27-25 loss into a 28-26 win that clinched the match.
 
NOTABLE

• Mikayla Robinson hit .611 in the match, the highest hitting percentage by a Gamecock since Robinson hit .692 against Clemson on Aug. 25, 2018 – a span of 43 matches.
• This is Robinson’s fifth match of the season with double-digit kills, but first time with double-digit kills in a three-set match.
• Along with her 11 kills, Mikayla Shields also recorded two service aces. That moves her up to ninth in the rally-scoring era for career aces, with 77.
• With 19 more digs Sunday, Addie Bryant finished the six total sets this weekend with 37 digs (6.17). In four SEC matches, Bryant is averaging 4.21 digs per set. 
• Before Sunday’s match, senior Courtney Koehler received a commemorative gold ball for reaching 3,000 career assists earlier this season. She is just the sixth Gamecock in program history to hit the milestone.
• Sunday was the team’s Dig Pink match, raising awareness for Breast Cancer research.

QUOTABLE: HEAD COACH TOM MENDOZA
On the team’s bounce-back performance
“I felt it was a really strong effort, especially coming from a road match on Friday to a home match on Sunday. A lot of our messaging yesterday and today was taking care of the ball on our side of the net and making sure our level of play was where we needed to be. We thought we could’ve done a little better job of that starting the match on Friday, so for that reason I really liked the way we started tonight.” 

NEXT UP: The team has its first true road swing coming up, playing three straight away from Columbia starting next Friday in College Station. The Gamecocks face Texas A&M at 9 p.m. ET on the SEC Network Friday night, then go to Fayetteville for a Sunday matinee with Arkansas at 2 p.m. on the SEC Network+.