Sept. 11, 2004
Durham, N.C. – For the second weekend in a row, the South Carolina volleyball team finished second at a tournament as they defeated the Towson Tigers 3-0 for a 2-1 record at the Duke Invitational. USC won 30-27, 30-23, 30-19 and improved to 5-2 on the season while Towson fell to 4-3. For the match, USC hit .220 and held Towson to a .064 percentage. Sarah Morgan led the match in kills with 11 while Lauren Ford led in hitting percentage with .312. Morgan and Ford were both named to the all-tournament team.
For the tournament, Morgan led in hitting with .272 averaging 3.10 kills per game while Ford led the team in blocks with 14, averaging 1.40 per game and registered five aces. Morgan also had 27 digs and averaged 2.70 per game.
“I am glad to see that in our last match we looked began to look like our old team. It looked like we finally got our rhythm going,” said head coach Kim Hudson. “I thought Sarah Morgan played a good tournament. She gained some confidence on the outside and showed good leadership.”
South Carolina came from behind in game one and tied it 19-19 before they ever got a lead. Tied at 24-24, Katelyn Panzau recorded back-to-back service aces to put the Gamecocks up 26-24. Those points came in the midst of a 6-0 run for the Gamecocks as they then took a 29-24 lead. Towson held USC at the 29 mark long enough to go on a 3-0 run and came within two points, 29-27, but Shonda Cole knocked a kill just inside the line to give USC the 30-27 win.
In the final two games of the match, once the Gamecocks established their leads, they never fell behind. USC hit .227 with 13 kills and three errors in game two and hit a match high .355 with 14 kills in game three.
Cole was held to just eight kills, marking her first match of the season where she did not reach double-figures in kills. Cole did however record her 100th kill of the season.
USC returns to the court next Friday night when they host the Gamecock Invitational. Michigan State and Notre Dame will open the tournament with No. 1 Southern California and the Gamecocks playing in the nightcap.
