Oct. 17, 2004
Auburn, Ala. – It took a quick three games for South Carolina volleyball to bounce back from its loss Friday as they defeated the Auburn Tigers 30-18, 30-20, 30-23 at the Student Act Sunday afternoon. USC improved to 11-6 and 4-4 in the SEC while Auburn fell to 6-10 and 1-7. USC hit a season high .381 with 51 kills, the most in a three-game SEC match this season for the Gamecocks.
USC also recorded a season high 16 service aces. Lynae Vanden Hull led with six while Katelyn Panzau had five. Shonda Cole led the team in kills with 14 and hit .379 while Lauren Ford hit .533 with nine kills and four blocks.
“Serving and attacking was the key for us in today’s match. We did really well in those areas,” said head coach Kim Hudson. “We came out ready to play today and it made a big difference in the outcome.”
USC recorded only two attack errors in game one and hit .467 with 16 kills to beat the Tigers 30-18. The Gamecocks continued to keep their unforced errors down as Vanden Hull recorded four of USC’s seven service aces and the Gamecocks only had one service error.
The Gamecocks continued to hit well in game two as they recorded 17 kills with four errors to hit .367. Carolina won game two 30-20 and took a 2-0 lead against the Tigers. At the break, USC had a .409 percentage with just six errors and added five more service aces. After the 5-5 tie, the Gamecocks never relinquished the lead and controlled the game.
The Gamecocks had to fight early on in game three as Auburn came out and jumped to a 10-5 lead. USC capitalized on back-to-back errors by the Tigers to pull to within one. A kill by Lauren Ford tied the game 14-14 and from there the Gamecocks were able to push through. USC established its lead at the 20-19 mark when the Gamecocks served eight times and posted a 26-20 lead. The Gamecocks were up 29-23 in game three but a service error by Panzau kept the Tigers alive a little longer. A kill by Iris Santos in the next play then clinched the victory for USC 30-23 and the road win 3-0.
USC has gone 3-1 in their four-match road stint. The Gamecocks return home next weekend and will host Georgia and Florida.
