Oct. 30, 2005
COLUMBIA, S.C. – Freshman outside hitter Marija Milosevic recorded 28 kills to tie the school record for kills in a single match, but it wasn’t enough as the South Carolina Gamecocks fell 3-2 to the Georgia Bulldogs Sunday afternoon. USC struggled in the five-game match and lost 30-22, 24-30, 30-24, 22-30, 9-15. USC is now 10-12 and 3-9 while UGA improves to 8-13, 3-8.
“We are still making too many errors in important parts of the match,” said head coach Nancy Somera. “We need to limit our attacking errors. There are times when the smart decision is to play the ball in and not try to force a kill that leads to an error. Marija had a great match for us today and I am very pleased with her efforts on the floor for us.”
Milosevic also had a career night in hitting as she recorded an attack percenrage of .407 and recorded a double-double by adding 12 digs. Shonda Cole reached the 1,000th career kill mark as she registered 17 kills on the night while junior Iris Santos recorded 15 kills and 21 digs.
The Gamecocks continued the pattern of coming out early and taking a game one but then struggled on the back end of the match. USC intensely won game one by hitting .340 with 21 kills.
UGA found a way to bounce back in game two and held the Gamecocks to .091 as USC had 12 errors. UGA had a 20-9 lead over the Gamecocks at one time in game two. USC called a timeout and was able to regroup and managed to climb their way back into the game. At the 13-23 mark, South Carolina then went on a 7-0 run to come within three, led by Milosevic. Milosevic accounted for four kills in that run.
The Bulldogs maintained the pressure and held on to the lead despite the Gamecocks’ efforts. UGA finished with a six-point lead and evened the match 1-1 with the 30-24 win.
USC jumped ahead early in game three as UGA never really threatened until the Bulldogs came within four at the 26-22 mark. Cole and Belita Salters recorded kills as USC held on jumped within game point. An attack error by Georgia clinched the win for USC and put South Carolina up 2-1.
UGA tied the match 2-2 after cruising through game four and winning 30-22. With the game on the line, game five was all Georgia as well. USC’s final point of the match came on an error by Julia Petruschke. With UGA up 13-9, Brook Burlingame recorded a service ace to put the Bulldogs within match point. The winning point was handed to UGA on an attack error by Santos.
UGA would pick up the sweep against USC for the second year in a row. The Gamecocks will get another chance at an SEC east team next Friday when they travel to Lexington, Ky. to face the Kentucky Wildcats.
