Oct. 26, 2005
COLUMBIA, S.C. – Senior outside hitter Shonda Cole recorded 22 kills, but that wasn’t enough as the South Carolina volleyball team struggled in games three, four and five to lose 3-1 to the Tennessee Lady Vols Wednesday night. USC took a 1-0 lead, 30-15, before UT swept the next three games 18-30, 18-30, 21-30. Freshman Petra Lorenzi registered a career high 41 assists and junior Iris Santos posted her seventh double-double of the season with 14 kills and 13 digs.
The Gamecocks are now 10-10 and 3-7 while UT improves to 13-7 and 7-3.
“We can be our own worst enemy sometimes,” said head coach Nancy Somera. “We have to be able to handle the pressure out there, along with our emotions, and we have not been doing that lately. We continue to make mistakes at critical times and that hurts us.”
Tennessee’s offense came from the trio of Yuliya Stoyanova, Kelsey Fautsch and Sarah Blum. Stoyanova led the Lady Vols with 17 kills and hit .302, while Kelsey Fautsch hit .400 with 13 kills. Sarah Blum followed with 12 kills and hit .346.
USC played its best game of the night in game one when they hit .344 with 14 kills and three errors. The Lady Vols were held to their worst game of the night as they hit -.029 with 10 kills and 11 errors. With her third kill of the night, Cole recorded her 300th kill on the season in game one.
From there, UT charged back in game two and hit the match high, .544 with 13 kills and only one error. After game one, Tennessee never hit below the .290 mark, while South Carolina never reached the .200 mark.
In game three, USC was within six points at 17-23, but UT pulled ahead and went on a 6-0 run to establish a solid 12-point lead to come within game point. An attack error by Tennessee kept the game alive but a kill by Fautsch sealed the deal for the Lady Vols as UT went up 2-1 with the 18-30 win.
In the final game of the night, USC jumped out to a 10-7 lead but the Gamecocks would not sustain it as UT went on a 4-0 run to take the lead and never fall behind again. With Tennessee ahead 20-26, that would be the closest margin the Gamecocks would see the remainder of the night. The Lady Vols eventually went on to a 21-30 win to take the match 3-1.
South Carolina returns to action Friday night when No. 4 Florida comes to Columbia. First serve is scheduled for 7 p.m.
