Nov. 16, 2014

Final Stats | Photo Gallery

COLUMBIA, S.C. — The South Carolina volleyball team fell in five sets to Auburn on Senior Day Sunday, as the Tigers won by the scores of 21-25, 25-20, 25-21, 24-26 and 15-9 at the Carolina Volleyball Center.

With the loss, the Gamecocks drop to 15-12 on the season and 5-9 in the SEC. Auburn improves to 12-15 overall and 4-10 in league play.

Auburn seemed to be on its way to clinching the match in the fourth set as it held a 24-22 lead. However, the Gamecocks battled back and scored the next four points, including a pair of kills by sophomore KoKo Atoa-Williams, to win 26-24 and force a fifth set.

The Gamecocks held a 4-3 lead early in the fifth set, but Auburn took control as it went on an 8-0 run to build an 11-4 lead. Carolina was unable to pull closer than five points the rest of the way.

Atoa-Williams recorded her ninth double-double of the season to lead the Gamecocks, matching her career high with 18 kills and tallying 10 digs. Junior right side Sarah Blomgren finished with 13 kills, and sophomore Dessaa Legros added a season-high eight kills. Junior setter Kellie McNeil contributed 31 assists, eight digs, seven kills and five blocks, and senior Carolina Cann finished with five kills. Junior middle blocker Darian Dozier tallied eight digs and five blocks. Senior libero Mikaela Christiaansen collected 20 digs, and freshman setter Allie Monserez had 17 assists and seven digs.

Freshman outside hitter Courtney Crable paced Auburn with 20 kills and six digs. Sophomore middle blocker Emily Klitzke posted 16 kills while hitting .448. Freshman middle blocker Macy Reece recorded 16 kills, and sophomore middle Stephanie Campbell finished with 11 kills. Setter Alexa Filley produced a double-double for the Tigers, finishing with 52 assists, 15 digs, four kills and three blocks. Middle blocker Breanna Barksdale added seven kills and five blocks, while libero Alyssa Ivey finished with a match-high 25 digs.

Match Changer
With the Gamecocks leading 4-3 in the fifth set, Auburn went on an 8-0 run to build an 11-4 lead it would not relinquish.

Key Stat
The Tigers hit .350 as a team in the fifth set while holding the Gamecocks to a -.062 hitting percentage.

Notable
• Sunday’s match was the third straight five-set match for the Gamecocks. Carolina is 0-3 in those matches and is 3-5 in five-set matches this season.
• Atoa-Williams recorded her team-leading ninth double-double of the season, matching her career high with 18 kills and tallying 10 digs.
• Dozier recorded five total blocks on Sunday to set the school total blocks record for a single season in the rally scoring era with 129.
• With four block assists on Sunday, Dozier moved to eighth on Carolina’s career block assists list with 286.
• Christiaansen and Cann were recognized in a Senior Day ceremony following Sunday’s match. Christiaansen finished with 20 digs, while Cann pitched in five kills.

Quotable
South Carolina head coach Scott Swanson
“I’m extremely disappointed with how we played. I didn’t feel like we had the energy or focus to capitalize on what we needed to, and Auburn just played better than we did. They ran a better offense and passed better. We had just enough fight to get it to five but just didn’t show up in the fifth set. Our kids are super disappointed, and our whole staff is disappointed. It’s just a tough way to lose, especially on Senior Day.”

Up Next
The Gamecocks will play at Tennessee on Wednesday. First serve is set for 6 p.m. at Thompson-Boling Arena in Knoxville, Tenn. The match will be televised nationally on ESPNU.