Gamecocks Lose, 3-0, at Texas A&M
Nov. 19, 2017
TEXAS A&M 3, SOUTH CAROLINA 0
COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS – Texas A&M swept the South Carolina volleyball team Sunday afternoon, 25-18, 25-19, 25-18. The Gamecock offense was held in check for the match, but junior Aubrey Ezell did join an elite club in a losing effort with 20 digs that pushed her over a career milestone.
Ezell passed 1,000 career digs, making her the fourth player in the program’s 45-year history to reach 2,000 assists, 1,000 digs and 100 aces in a career. The last Gamecock to achieve the three milestones was Megan Hosp (1999-02), Ashley Edlund (1995-98) and Jodi Thompson (1991-94) round out the exclusive quartet.
SET 1: The Aggies pulled ahead early in the set, 12-7, but the Gamecocks came out of a called timeout with a 5-0 run to tie up the set. Mikayla Robinson and Courtney Furlong teamed up for a pair of blocks to spark the run. South Carolina hung around until late in the match, but could never get ahead. The Aggies used a 7-1 run to end the set by a score of 25-18. Aubrey Ezell had eight digs in the game, but Carolina was aced four times and hit just .133.
SET 2: The sluggish offense carried into the second game, as Texas A&M built an 11-5 lead thanks to four attack errors from the Gamecocks. The Aggies would take their turn going cold offensively, and Carolina inched back to trail just 13-12 after three unforced attack errors from the home side. Similar to the first game, though, the Gamecocks weren’t able to capitalize and A&M pulled away again and won it 25-19. South Carolina hit just .029 in the set, but did get a lift from a pair of aces from Shields and three kills from Robinson.
SET 3: Two more aces from Mikayla Shields opened the scoring in the third, but Texas A&M answered quickly with a 6-0 run to take back the lead. Back-to-back kills from Robinson helped the Gamecocks even things up at 10, and Carolina hung within one until a 6-0 Aggie run broke a 15-all tie and forced a timeout. The Gamecocks would get no closer than five points the rest of the way in the 25-18 loss.
Stat of the Match
The Gamecock offense hit just .085 for the match, with 13 unforced attack errors. This is the fifth time this season the team hit under .100 for a match; all have come in conference play.
Notable
- Shields’ six aces are the second-most for a three-set match in the rally-scoring era and ties her career high.
- Aubrey Ezell‘s 20 digs are the most by a Gamecock in a three-set match this season. The junior libero now has seven 20-dig matches this season.
- Now with 1,012 digs for her career, Ezell now ranks ninth in program history.
- Mikayla Robinson led the team with eight kills on 14 swings. It is the sixth time this season that the freshman middle led the team in kills.
Up Next
It will be a short week to wrap up the regular season, with the Gamecocks traveling to Ole Miss for a Wednesday night match in Oxford at 7:30 ET. After celebrating Thanksgiving, the team will host Mississippi State for the season finale and senior night on Friday at 7 p.m. The senior night ceremony for Abreia Epps and Courtney McKeag will be held prior to first serve.
