Sept. 26, 2004
Columbia, S.C. – Shonda Cole recorded her tenth double-figure kill match of the season with 14 as she helped lead the South Carolina Gamecock volleyball team to its first SEC win of the season. USC defeated the Ole Miss Rebels 3-0 with game scores of 30-26, 30-26, 30-24. The Gamecocks improve to 8-3 overall and 1-1 in SEC play, while the Rebels fall to 7-6 overall and 0-2 in the SEC.
“It was good to see us back on track today. We had a lot of distractions prior to the Mississippi State match and I am glad to see that we got our focus back,” said head coach Kim Hudson. “We played with confidence again and this is an important win as we head into our next match against 24th-ranked Tennessee on Wednesday.”
The Gamecocks hit .306 for the match with 50 kills and 17 errors. USC also outblocked the Rebels 9-2. Lauren Ford was second on the team in kills with 11 and hit .333. Ford led the team in blocks with five assists. Lynae Vanden Hull recorded a season high four service aces and hit .444 with 10 kills.
The Rebels kept the games close throughout the entire match and even had some leads but USC was able to stay a step ahead to come out with the three-game sweep. In game one, USC was up 28-25 before a service error by Nicole Miller put Ole Miss within two. A kill by Vanden Hull put USC up by three and then game point came on an attack error by Katie Kramer.
Game two saw a similar scenario as once again, the Gamecocks were up by three, 28-25. A kill by Nikki Hill put Ole Miss to within two points but then Hill followed with an attack error to give Carolina the 29-26 edge. A kill by Morgan sealed the game for the Gamecocks and USC took a 2-0 lead into the break. In game two alone, there were 12 tied and five lead changes, the most during the match.
Up 23-18 in game three, Carolina scored the next five points to pull ahead by nine. From there, USC would hold Ole Miss to just five more points as Ford and Panazau would eventually record kills to give USC the 30-24 win.
Carolina was also able to hold Ole Miss to under .200 hitting percentage for the match while the Gamecocks never fell below .250 in hitting.
