Aug. 23, 2006

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ON TAP THIS WEEK:

Match #1: South Carolina (0-0, 0-0) vs. Boise State (0-0, 0-0)
Aug. 25 • Fort Worth, Texas • 3:30 p.m. EST
Live Stats: GoFrogs.com • Radio: None • TV: None

Match #2: South Carolina (0-0, 0-0) vs. TCU (0-0, 0-0)
Aug. 25 • Fort Worth, Texas • 8:30 p.m. EST
Live Stats: GoFrogs.com • Radio: GoFrogs.com • TV: None

Match #3: South Carolina (0-0, 0-0) vs. Loyola (Md.) (0-0, 0-0)
Aug. 26 • Fort Worth, Texas • 10:30 a.m. EST
Live Stats: GoFrogs.com • Radio: None • TV: None

Match #4: South Carolina (0-0, 0-0) vs. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (0-0, 0-0)
Aug. 26 • Fort Worth, Texas • 6 p.m. EST
Live Stats: GoFrogs.com • Radio: None • TV: None

ABOUT THE WEEK
• The South Carolina volleyball team begins its second season under head coach Nancy Somera with a trip to Fort Worth, Texas, to compete in a tournament hosted by TCU over Aug. 25-26. In addition to the host Horned Frogs, the Gamecocks will face Boise State, Loyola (Md.) and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.

• Boise State is the only team South Carolina has faced before in the tournament. The Gamecocks and Broncos met once in the 1996 Kansas State Invitational, and USC won 3-2.

• The Gamecocks return nine letterwinners from a year ago and added five newcomers. Included among the letterwinners are 2005 All-SEC honorees Shonda Cole and Marija Milosevic. Cole is a two-time member of the All-SEC Second Team, while Milosevic made the inaugural SEC All-Freshman Team last year.

• In addition to USC’s Shonda Cole, Anna Vaughn from TCU and Cameron Flunder of Boise State will look to provide plenty of kills for their respective teams over the weekend. Cole averaged 4.18 kills per game a year ago, while Vaughn and Flunder tallied 3.76 and 3.89.

SHE CAN DO IT ALL
Setter Iris Santos is perhaps one of the most versatile players in school history. In 2005, she became the first Gamecock to record at least 200 kills, 200 digs and 500 assists in a single season. During her career at South Carolina, she has played virtually every position except middle blocker. Santos also is one of only nine Gamecocks to rack up at least 1,000 assists during her career. With 391 career kills, Santos is set up to become only the second player in USC history with at least 1,000 assists and 500 kills. The other was Ashley Edlund, who accumulated a record 5,177 assists and 517 kills. Santos had the distinction of posting two triple-doubles last season within less than a week of each other against North Carolina (14 kills, 40 assists, 13 digs) and Houston (12 kills, 57 assists, 13 digs).

TOP GAMECOCK
Outside hitter Shonda Cole is back for her senior year with the Gamecocks after training with USA Volleyball for the second summer in a row. She is the only South Carolina volleyball player to train with USA Volleyball and is poised to finish among the top five in career kills, attacks and kills per game at USC. Cole is currently ranked 10th in school history for kills with 1,072, and just 36 more will catapult her into sole possession of sixth. Her 3.63 kills per game ranks second only to Lori Rowe, who averaged 3.66 for her career, and Cole’s 2,640 attacks is the eighth-best mark at USC.

A FAMILY AFFAIR
Head coach Nancy Somera is entering her second season with South Carolina. Her top assistant, Ben Somera, is also her husband and coached alongside her at Oregon State before the couple decided to move to Columbia. The Someras are not alone at the NCAA Division I level as a husband-wife coaching duo, as others include Texas A&M head coach Laurie Corbelli and associate head coach John Corbelli, and Missouri head coach Wayne Kreklow and associate head coach Susan Kreklow.

BYE-BYE SEC TOURNAMENT
The SEC is no longer holding a post-season conference tournament to decide which school receives the league’s automatic NCAA berth. Instead, a double round-robin format during the regular season will decide the champion, giving each team 20 conference matches (Vanderbilt does not sponsor volleyball). The SEC first sponsored volleyball and a post-season tournament in 1979.

A BUSY SCHEDULE
The Gamecocks have 32 regular-season matches scheduled for 2006, which is the most since 1991 when USC had 36. South Carolina played its most matches in one season in 1977 with 56, the same year it posted a record 47 victories. The 32 matches is nothing new for coach Nancy Somera, as her Oregon State teams played the same amount in 2000 and 2003.

STIFF COMPETITION
Notable opponents for South Carolina this season include in-state rival Clemson (Aug. 31, 7 p.m., away), three-time NCAA champion Southern California (Sept. 8, 8 p.m., home), 2005 NCAA Final Four participant Tennessee (Oct. 6 and Nov. 12, 7 and 1:30 p.m., away and home) and six-time NCAA Final Four participant Florida (Sept. 17 and Oct. 20, 1:30 and 8 p.m., home and away).

SOMERA CLOSING IN ON 100
USC head coach Nancy Somera is closing in on the 100-win plateau for her career thanks to a 90-112 record over seven years. If the Gamecocks were to win their first 10 matches Somera would her earn No. 100 against her alma mater, Southern California, on Sept. 8 in the Gamecock Invitational. She also was an assistant coach for the Women of Troy for eight years.

GO WITH YOUR INSTINCTS
When coaches Nancy and Ben Somera decided to take over the South Carolina volleyball program, they were able to convince setter Petra Lorenzi to come with them. The Someras recruited Lorenzi while working at Oregon State and Lorenzi enrolled at South Carolina after finishing her high school career at Del Norte in Crescent City, Calif.

HER NUMBERS ARE HARD TO BEAT
Coach Nancy Somera put up some impressive numbers during her playing days at Southern California from 1985 to 1988. She is ranked sixth in career kills (1,534), eighth in kills per game (3.65), third in attacks (3,984), second in digs (1,536), third in digs per game (3.66) and first in aces (170) and aces per game (0.41).

PLENTY OF IN-STATE TALENT
Five of South Carolina’s 14 players hail from the Palmetto State. The most tenured of the group is junior middle blocker Crystal Johnson (Camden, Camden H.S.), followed by sophomore middle blocker Belita Salters (Lake City, Lake City H.S.). Three of the Gamecocks’ five newcomers are from South Carolina, with Channing Cantrell (Pickens, Pickens H.S.), Sarah Cline (Rock Hill, Northwestern H.S.) and Christine Hauer (Aiken, Aiken H.S.).

STREAKING
The Gamecocks began the 2005 season winning their first five matches and hope to top that figure this season. South Carolina’s best start to a year was 12-0 in 1983, which was the same season it finished 34-4 for a school-best .895 winning percentage. USC’s top start since joining the Southeastern Conference in 1991 is 7-0, an accomplishment that came in 1992 and 1995. Coach Nancy Somera’s most consecutive victories to begin a season was six in 2003 at Oregon State.

USC’S NCAA HISTORY
South Carolina made its first appearance in the NCAA Tournament in 1984 after it won the Metro Conference Tournament. The Gamecocks other bids came in 1995, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2001 and 2002. The Garnet & Black has made it as far as the second round of the tournament four times, coming in 1995, 1997, 2000 and 2002.

LAST VISIT TO THE LONE STAR STATE
South Carolina has not paid the Lone Star State a visit for several years. Its last trip to Texas came in 1998 when it faced Colorado State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in Austin. The Gamecocks were pitted against Texas teams in their prior two NCAA appearances, playing against Texas in Austin in 1997 and at College Station to play Texas A&M in 1995. The only other time USC traveled to Texas was in 1992 to compete against UT-San Antonio and play in a tournament hosted by Texas State in San Marcos.

PAGING DOCTOR JOHNSON, DOCTOR THOMSON
While junior middle blocker Crystal Johnson still has one year of eligibility remaining after this season, she is not planning on using it. Instead, Johnson will graduate and plans to enter medical school. Senior defensive specialist Alexcis Thomson also has plans to attend medical school after this season.

IN THE RANKINGS
The Gamecocks received a vote in this season’s AVCA preseason poll. South Carolina is hoping to get back into the top 25 this season, a place it has not been since Dec. 2, 2002, when the team held a No. 24 national billing. USC’s best ranking is 17th, which came on Oct. 1, 2001.

LOOKING TO GET BACK ON TRACK
South Carolina is looking to end its streak of three consecutive losing seasons in 2006. The Gamecocks ended on a positive note in 2005 with three straight victories, one of which came against NCAA Tournament squad Alabama. USC is a combined 37-47 (.440) over the past three years after going 187-82 (.695) from 1994 to 2002.

VANDEN HULL BACK FOR 2006
Senior outside hitter Lynae Vanden Hull had her junior year cut unexpectedly short when she tore an ACL while warming up for South Carolina’s match at Clemson. The 2003 SEC Freshman of the Year has completely rehabilitated her knee and should be a major offensive contributor in 2006, as she comes in with a career kills per game average of 2.65.