Nov. 16, 2003
COLUMBIA, S.C. – Three Gamecocks posted double digit kills with Sarah Morgan leading the way with 18 and Lynae Vanden Hull with 14 while hitting .351 but the Bulldogs were too tough, edging out Carolina 3-1 in the final conference match of the season for both teams. Georgia (17-12, 10-6 Southeastern Conference) posted 78 kills on the day while South Carolina (12-16, 6-10 SEC) notched 59 kills but out-blocked the Bulldogs 11-7. USC will host the SEC Tournament Nov. 21-23 with pairings to be announced shortly. Gamescores were 19-30, 35-33, 29-31, and 28-30.
“We looked flat today” said Carolina Head Coach Kim Christopher. “We have a young team and we had a lot of energy Friday night and it looked like we just couldn’t recover. Both teams looked slow today. We wanted this match today, more than Friday night against Florida. We seemed to start off slow. It’s just a maturity thing and we need to build.”
Carolina only hit .174 on the day while Georgia hit .224. Carolina couldn’t get their defense in a rhythm as they were out dug 85-71 and couldn’t stop Georgia’s Alexandra Oquendo (27 kills, hitting .564) or Julia Petruschke (23 kills, hitting .250).
USC came out sluggish in game one, falling 30-19 and only hitting .093. Georgia controlled the game, notching 20 kills to Carolina’s 11 and hitting .333. Morgan led Carolina with four kills in the game while Petruschke notched six kills for Georgia.
Carolina put up a fight in game two and never gave up. In a game that witnessed 15 ties and seven lead changes, Carolina was out killed 21-20 but the Gamecocks out blocked the Bulldogs 4-2. Morgan led the way with six kills while Vanden Hull added fiv while hitting .500. Katelyn Panzau added three kills, hitting .750 in the game. Tied at 33, a Vanden Hull kill followed by a Luresa Forsythe attack error gave USC the 35-33 game two win and a tied match, 1-1.
Game three was just as close as the predecessor, this time with eight tie scores and five lead changes. Shonda Cole stepped up for the Gamecocks, leading the way with five kills. Carolina served up four aces in the game but only hit .091 while UGA hit .200. Georgia pulled out the game three win, 31-29 giving the Bulldogs a 2-1 match lead.
Vanden Hull came to play in game four, notching six kills and hitting .462 in the game and the Gamecocks hit .217 compared to Georgia’s .213 but the Bulldogs pulled out the 30-28 game four win and the 3-1 match win. Oquendo led UGA with nine kills while Petruschke added seven.
