Aug. 25, 2006
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FORT WORTH, Texas — The South Carolina volleyball team opened the 2006 season with a 3-0 (30-21, 30-24, 30-28) victory over Boise State on Friday in the TCU Molten/La Quinta Invitational in Fort Worth, Texas. The Gamecocks next play TCU at 8:30 p.m. tonight.
USC fell behind early in game one by a 9-5 count but rallied with a 10-2 run to take a 15-11 lead on the Broncos. The Gamecocks’ setter, Iris Santos, spread the offense with no player accumulating more than three kills in the frame.
“Iris did a great job as a setter managing situations,” head coach Nancy Somera said. “Her distribution was great. Even though Shonda (Cole) saw a lot of sets, it was spread out.”
Cole, a two-time All-SEC member, finished the contest with 18 kills on 40 attacks and eight errors for an even .250 hitting percentage. She also recorded a double-double thanks to 11 digs. Cole moved up to ninth on the school’s career list for kills with 1,090 to her credit, passing Caryn Case’s 1,080. Cole has a chance to move further up the list tonight, needing just four to overtake eighth place, 11 for seventh and 18 for sixth.
After breezing through the second game, USC and Boise State played a tightly contested third game. Neither team managed more than a three-point advantage, and it was tied 28-all before USC put the match away.
The Gamecocks received a powerful kill from Cole on the left side for their 29th point and a free ball played off sophomore outside hitter Marija Milosevic’s jump serve on the next point set up Cole for her final rip of the match.
“Game three was pretty even the whole way” Somera said. “We were deadlocked at 28-28, and you just have to be the first one to 30 and we were. We got a nice kill from Shonda for the 29th point, and Marija, our best server, got them out of system on the serve.”
For the match, South Carolina recorded 48 kills on 123 attempts and committed 19 errors. Boise State out-dug USC 51-47, but the Gamecocks had 10 blocks to BSU’s three. South Carolina also posted 11 service aces to Boise State’s four.
Other notable performers for the Gamecocks included sophomore libero Dinelia Concepcion with 17 digs and Milosevic with eight kills, three aces and nine digs. Junior middle blocker Crystal Johnson added six kills and five blocks, while fellow middle Belita Salters chipped in six kills and four stuffs.
“Our defense won the match for us,” Somera said. “Our passing was just OK. I’d like to see more routine balls played on target. Our serving was really tough throughout the whole lineup. Boise State never got a break with an easy server.”
Two Gamecock freshmen, defensive specialist Sarah Cline and outside hitter Meredith Moorhead, saw action for the first time in their careers against the Broncos.
“Our two freshmen came off the bench and did a nice job,” Somera said. “It wasn’t a token sub for them either. They came in because we needed them. Sarah passed a nice ball on her first hit and Meredith came in and had an ace.”
