Oct. 23, 2005
COLUMBIA, S.C. – After going up 1-0, the South Carolina Gamecocks lost the next three games to fall 3-1 to the Kentucky Wildcats Sunday afternoon. USC won game one 30-24, but lost 29-31, 20-30, 24-30 and suffered their first loss at home this season. The Gamecocks are now 10-9 and 3-6 in the SEC, while UK is 13-7 and 6-4.
Shonda Cole led the match with 18 kills while Iris Santos and Marija Milosevic each recorded 13 kills. Santos was one dig away from a triple-double. Amy Kaplan and Danielle Wallace led Kentucky with 14 kills apiece, followed by Ashlee Fisher with 11. As a team, USC had 61 kills and hit .200 and UK had 82 kills to hit .279. The Gamecocks outdug the Wildcats 59-57 and outblocked UK 10-9.
“We did not win the pass and serve game and that is what it really came down to,” said head coach Nancy Somera. “I liked our defense. We outdug them and they are a good defensive team. We just weren’t able to run a diversified offense.”
South Carolina came out firing in game one and dominated most of the game until Kentucky battled back towards the end. USC never trailed and was up 22-9 at one point, but the Wildcats scored 14 of their last 15 points on eight kills and six Gamecock mistakes. UK moved to within four at the 28-24 mark after a kill by Kaplan, but a service error by Wallace put USC within game point. The Gamecocks finished off the game on a kill by Milosevic and won 30-24.
Kentucky came back in game two and kept the score tight throughout. South Carolina had a 27-23 lead before UK went on a 4-1 run to tie it 28-28. Milosevic posted a kill to put the Gamecocks up 29-28, but Kaplan answered back with a kill to tie it once again. Melissa Popp then registered a kill to put UK ahead 29-30 and the Wildcats took the game 29-31 after Milosevic had an attack error.
After the break, UK would go on to win games three and four 20-30 and 24-30. In those two games combined, USC actually outhit UK 30-29, but the garnet and black had 16 errors to the Wildcats’ 10. In game three alone, UK hit .394 with just two errors while USC hit .128 with 10 errors.
The loss to Kentucky marks the third straight to the Wildcats in as many chances. The Gamecocks are still winless against teams in the SEC East. The series is now tied 16-16 and the two teams will meet again on Nov. 4 in Lexington.
USC returns to action Wednesday evening when the Tennessee Lady Vols come to town for a 7 p.m. match.
