Aug. 26, 2006
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FORT WORTH, Texas — The South Carolina volleyball team improved to 2-1 in 2006 with a 3-0 (30-15, 30-10, 30-18) drubbing of Loyola (Md.) on Saturday morning in Fort Worth, Texas. The Gamecocks conclude the TCU Molten/La Quinta Invitational at 6 p.m. today against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
South Carolina plowed through game one, piling up 20 kills and hitting .389 (20-6-36). Senior outside hitter Shonda Cole chipped in five kills and six digs in the frame. USC also got four kills apiece from senior outside hitter Lynae Vanden Hull and sophomore outside hitter Marija Milosevic.
The Garnet & Black won the first 12 rallies in game two and led 18-2 after 20 points had been played. Sophomore setter Petra Lorenzi played the entire stanza after entering game one following USC’s 23rd point for her first appearance of the season. Freshman middle blocker Christine Hauer entered the match in the second game for her first career appearance.
The Gamecocks started slow in the third game, falling behind 7-2 early, but countered with a 7-0 run to take the lead for good. USC spread its offense around and capitalized on several free balls from the Greyhounds to close out the victory.
“It was a little bit of a lopsided match, but you want to see if you can stay focused and keep making the right decisions,” Gamecock head coach Nancy Somera said. “I thought Lynae (Vanden Hull) did a good job of that and her stats reflect it. She gets those stats because despite the situation, she plays every point the way it should be regardless of who the opponent is. I would have liked to have seen that from some other people.”
Vanden Hull led USC with 12 kills and made just one attack error for a career-high .550 hitting percentage. She tacked on four service aces and five digs as well. Cole finished with 11 kills for her third consecutive match in double figures, and she fell one dig short of her second double-double of the year. Starting senior setter Iris Santos finished with 19 assists, as did Lorenzi.
As a team, South Carolina hit .333 (50-17-99) for its highest percentage since posting a .362 figure against Houston last year on Sept. 16. The Gamecocks’ 53 digs was 24 more than the Greyhounds recorded and USC posted 33 more kills.
