Gamecocks Sweep Ole Miss in Home Finale
COLUMBIA, S.C. – The South Carolina volleyball team (10-14, 4-10 SEC) delivered a dominant all-around performance to take down the Ole Miss Rebels (12-13, 4-10 SEC) in a clean sweep on Wednesday night, closing out the 2025 home matches at the Carolina Volleyball Center on a high note.
1st SET: South Carolina started out in front of Ole Miss 5-3 after a kill from Ava Leahy ended a long rally. The Gamecocks and Rebels traded points back and forth until the Rebels pulled away 11-8 to send South Carolina into a timeout. Ole Miss extended their lead 15-10 until the Gamecocks went on a 6-1 run to tie it up at 16-16. A successful play touch challenge from South Carolina tied the score at 18-18 and changed the momentum in favor of the Gamecocks as they went on a 4-0 run to pull away to 22-19 to force an Ole Miss timeout. Another kill courtesy of Leahy brought the Gamecocks to set point at 24-21 where South Carolina ultimately took set one 25-21.
2nd SET: Ole Miss took a 7-5 lead after the two teams traded points early in the set. The Rebels pushed their lead to 11-6 on a 4-0 run, forcing a South Carolina timeout. Alayna Johnson slowed the charge with a kill to cut back on the lead. The Gamecocks came within one at 15-14 after a kill from Elise Marchal, before eventually tying it up at 18-18 following an ace from Kimmie Thompson. South Carolina claimed the lead with a kill from Johnson, pulling ahead 20-19 before the Rebels quickly tied it back up. The Gamecocks then went on a 3-0 run courtesy of three consecutive Rebel attack errors to go up 23-20 and force an Ole Miss timeout. Nia Hall closed the set for South Carolina at 25-21 on a dominant kill.
3rd SET: The Gamecocks jumped out to an early lead in the third set with a 3-0 scoring run to go up 4-2, then followed it with another run to extend the advantage to 9-4. Back-to-back aces from Ole Miss trimmed South Carolina’s lead to two, but the Gamecocks quickly regained control, pulling ahead 14-8. Three kills from Hall helped push the margin to 18-12, and an ace from Elizabeth McElveen stretched it to 20-12. South Carolina closed out the set 25-15, with Hall sealing the sweep on her final kill of the match.
Quotables
“I’m super proud of the resiliency and fight of my team! We served great and our offense was flowing and balanced tonight. It was a great showing by our team in our last home match of the season. A big shout out to Gamecock Nation who supported us all season long! The support was felt!” – head coach Sarah Rumely Noble
Notables
- Nia Hall paced the offense with nine kills followed by Alayna Johnson with eight
- Three Gamecocks hit .300 or better with five or more kills – Ava Leahy (.600), Hall (.381) and Johnson (.304)
- Kimmie Thompson recorded a team leading 17 assists closely followed by Sarah Jordan with 16
- Victoria Harris led the defense with 11 digs, her 19th match of the season with double digits and ninth consecutive
- The team put up 11 blocks, marking the seventh match of the season with 10 or more
- Emily Beeker recorded seven blocks, her eighth match of the season with five or more
- Seven different Gamecocks had at least two kills and nine different players had at least one dig
- The Gamecocks hit .365 as a team, the highest mark in conference play and second highest this season
- The win marked South Carolina’s first sweep of 2025 conference play
Up Next: The Gamecocks conclude the 2025 regular season on Sunday, Nov. 16 at No. 4 Texas for a 2:00 p.m. (ET) first serve.
