Oct. 12, 2001
COLUMBIA, S.C- The South Carolina volleyball team lost tonight to the Arkansas Razorbacks in their first home match in almost a month. Game scores were 27-30, 30-26, 27-30 and 32-34. With the loss, the Gamecocks fall to 11-3 overall and 4-3 in the SEC.
Four Gamecocks had double-digit kills, with Nadia Sefferovich leading the way with 16 kills and eight digs. Yajaira Cadet finished with 15 kills and Berna Dwyer had 10. Cally Plummer finished with nine kills, only the second time all season that she did not have ten in a match. Defensively, she had 16 digs to pace the Carolina defense.
The match featured a seesaw battle in all four games, and in game one the Gamecocks fell behind 5-1 before tying the match at five on a Bridget White kill. A Megan Hosp kill would give Carolina a 6-5 lead for the first time. The lead changed hands several times before the Razorbacks pulled ahead at 28-27 on a block of a Sam Alban attack. Arkansas won the next three points to win the game 30-27.
The Gamecocks roared back to win the second game behind a potent offense, led by Dwyer’s five kills. The Gamecocks would go on to lead by as much as 13-9, and would hold on after the lead exchanged several times, with the game winner coming on a Razorback service error.
Arkansas won the third game but not before Carolina rallied from large deficits to keep the game close. Carolina trailed by as much as 10-5, but would manage to tie the game at 18 on a Razorback attack error. The lead changed hands several more times, but Arkansas would use strong defense to win the game 30-27.
Carolina rallied again from a margin to make game four close. At one point, the Gamecocks trailed 21-14, before putting up another rally. Carolina used Cally Plummer’s service aces and a strong defense to manage to tie the game at 26.
The two teams exchanged leads several times, and neither could score two consecutive points to win the game. With the score knotted at 32, the Razorbacks killed a point to take the lead, and then Carolina had an attack error to provide the winning margin at 34-32.
“Arkansas played very well,” said South Carolina Head Coach Kim Christopher. “They blocked us very well. We were not as smart with our offense as they were. We made to many critical mistakes at too many critical times.”
Carolina returns to action Sunday when they host Louisiana State at 2:00 p.m. at the Volleyball Competition Facility. The game can be heard on the University of South Carolina’s official website, www.uscsports.com with Kevin McCreary and former Gamecock Cindy Robarge calling all of the action.
