Nov. 13, 2005
COLUMBIA, S.C. – The South Carolina volleyball team put forth a valiant effort Sunday afternoon with a come from behind feat to upset the Alabama Crimson Tide, 3-2. The Gamecocks were down 2-0 before they rallied back and won three straight, 30-26, 30-15, 25-30, 21-30, 13-15, for their first five-game victory of the season. Despite the win, the Gamecocks still came up short and failed to qualify for the SEC Tournament in Tuscaloosa, Ala. this upcoming weekend.
In addition to the win, USC needed the Georgia Bulldogs to fall to Mississippi in order to advance to the tournament. Georgia defeated the Bulldogs 3-0 Sunday afternoon to put an end to any of USC’s chances of advancing. The Gamecocks and the Bulldogs are tied with 5-11 conference records but due to the series sweep by the Bulldogs over USC, UGA wins the tiebreaker and advances as the No. 8 seed to the tournament. This marks the first SEC Tournament in 15 years that the Gamecocks will miss. USC has been present in every tournament since South Carolina joined the SEC in 1991.
“This is both a great win and a disappointment in that we did what we needed to do to get to the tournament, but unfortunately the final outcome was not totally in our hands,” said head coach Nancy Somera. “After the break, we went to different personnel for a better defensive strategy. Our defense stepped it up tremendously and the distribution was very good. We were able to get balls to our middles more. Belita Salters came up with big kills at big times and I am really pleased with her efforts today.”
South Carolina (12-14, 5-11) picked up its first win against the Crimson Tide since 2002. USC has lost five straight matches to Alabama (21-8, 9-7). This also marks the first time the Gamecocks have won back-to-back SEC matches since the conference opener weekend against Mississippi State and Ole Miss.
Freshman Marija Milosevic led the Gamecocks with 18 kills and hit .308, while junior Shonda Cole followed with 15 kills and hit .382. Senior Nicole Miller had a stellar performance for senior day as she recorded a double-double with 10 kills and 10 digs. Milosevic also posted a double-double with 10-kills as well. Redshirt freshman Belita Salters recorded eight kills and hit a season high .238, and junior Iris Santos put up 48 assists with 10 digs for her tenth double-double of the season.
The Gamecocks fought hard in game one but fell short as the Tide won 30-26. USC maintained the lead until Alabama tied it 20-20 on a kill by Bridget Fuentez. Alabama then connected on back-to-back kills and an error by USC put the Tide up by three. From there, USC would not regain the lead and despite coming within one at the 26-25 mark on a kill by Marija Milosevic. Alabama out scored the Gamecocks 4-1 to close out the game and take the 1-0 match lead.
The Crimson Tide dominated game two and hit .560 with 16 kills and two errors. The Gamecocks managed 10 kills with five errors and hit .192. Alabama won by 15 points in the 30-15 victory, marking the second largest margin of loss the Gamecocks have suffered this season.
USC came out of the break with a new energy and took game three 30-25. The win marked the first for the Gamecocks against the Tide since 2003. It snapped a 14-game losing streak to Alabama. The Garnet and Black charged out to a 12-3 and was able to keep the distance from the Tide. Alabama climbed to within one when a kill by Sarah Snider made the score 24-23, but an error by Alabama gave USC another point. USC picked up four more points on a kill by Cole and three back-to-back attack errors by Alabama, and moved within match point. A block error by Cole, that resulted in a kill for Kelley Potter, kept the game alive for Alabama, but Cole bounced back and slammed a kill in the middle of the Tide’s court and earned another life for Carolina to force game four.
The momentum shift continued in favor of South Carolina in game four as USC posted a 30-21 win to tie the match 2-2. The Gamecocks were down early in the game but climbed back in to tie it 10-10. The score would remain close until USC went on a 6-0 run to jump out to an eight-point lead. From there, the Tide would not come back. After a soft lob kill just over the next by Crystal Johnson, the Gamecocks earned game point on a kill by Miller, senior style.
Game five was just as intense as both teams pushed to stay alive. Entering the game, USC was 0-4 on the season in five-game matches. The turning point came when the game was tied 9-9 on a kill by Miller and back-to-back errors by Alabama’s Sarah Snider put the Gamecocks ahead 11-9. At the 13-11 mark, Iris Santos recorded a ball handling error to bring the Tide within one but Salters stepped up once again and slammed a kill down for the Gamecocks, 14-12. Alabama scored another point on a kill by Snider but then Potter hit an attack over the heads of the Gamecock players and went out of bounds as the Gamecocks received the winning point. The win was the first five-game win of the season for USC.
The Gamecocks conclude the SEC season and will return to the court for one more match in two weeks. USC will host Winthrop on Saturday, Nov. 26 at 1:30 p.m.
