Sept. 11, 2004
Durham, N.C. – South Carolina volleyball improved to 4-2 as they defeated Northern Illinois 3-1 at the Duke Invitational Saturday morning. Game scores were 30-28, 30-27, 22-30, 30-21. Sarah Morgan recorded a season high 15 kills and six blocks and hit .314. Morgan also recorded her first double-double of the season with 14 digs. Lauren Ford had a season high in blocks with seven. Shonda Cole led the team with 17 kills, while the Huskies’ Tera Lobdell posted a match high 25.
“After what we went through last week I thought we were a pretty tough team but now it doesn’t appear that way,” said head coach Kim Hudson. “It is frustrating because at this tournament we are not being tough. We had too many unforced errors and it has been a recurring theme in the last two matches. There is also a lack of concentration on our part.”
In game one, USC had a 27-25 lead before an error by Sarah Morgan put NIU within one. USC added another point with a kill by Lauren Ford, and came within game point on a kill by Cole. Up 29-26, USC recorded a service error, giving NIU a point, then the Huskies followed with a kill by Kate McCullagh to make the score 29-28. McCullagh then attempted to save the ball on a pass but had an error, which gave USC game point and the 1-0 lead in the match.
NIU recorded 18 kills to USC’s 16 in game two and out hit the Gamecocks .389 to .323 but in the end, Carolina came out on top with the 30-27 win. Ahead 29-25, a kill by Megan Sprangers pulled NIU to within three. A USC error then gave the Huskies another point, making the score 29-27. Carolina ended the rally with a kill by Cole, her tenth of the match, as USC took a 2-0 lead into the break. For the game, there were 15 ties and eight lead changes.
The Huskies come out of the break with energy and established a 9-2 lead that they never relinquished. USC posted 11 kills and six errors while NIU had 18 kills and nine errors. Lobdell sealed the game win for the Huskies with her 22nd kill of the match as NIU won 30-23 and cut USC’s lead in half, 2-1.
Carolina did not allow the Huskies to repeat game three as they won 30-21 to take the match 3-1. The only tie was early on at 2-2. From there, USC eventually took the lead and never looked back. The Gamecocks led by as much as 11 and recorded 15 kills to hit .256.
The Gamecocks will close out their tournament stint at 5 p.m. when they take on Towson. The match can be followed through the Internet via Gametracker at uscsports.com.
