Oct. 13, 2006
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COLUMBIA, S.C. — The South Carolina volleyball team snapped a three-match skid Friday night with a 3-1 (30-22, 20-30, 30-27, 30-19) victory against Mississippi in Columbia, S.C. It marked the Gamecocks’ 18th-straight win over the Lady Rebels and improved their record to 11-9 overall and 4-5 in the Southeastern Conference. Ole Miss dropped to 11-8 and 3-6 in the SEC.
Shonda Cole paced the Gamecocks with an even 20 kills while adding six digs and four blocks. It was Cole’s ninth performance of the year with at least 20 kills. Ivana Kujundzic tallied a career high with 10 kills and made six blocks as well for Carolina. Lynae Vanden Hull’s 13 kills was a season high and she chipped in three service aces. Alexcis Thomson and Dinelia Concepcion reached double figures in the digs category with 17 and 12, respectively.
Jaclyn Toohey from Ole Miss had a match-high 23 kills on 46 attempts. Kristen Carroll was the only other Lady Rebel in double digits for kills with 11. Rachel Kieckhaefer and Tara Langley both totaled 13 digs to lead Mississippi’s defense.
The Gamecocks managed to out-hit the Lady Rebels .261 (65-25-153) to .191 (56-27-152). In game four, USC blasted 16 kills on 30 attempts while making no errors for a stellar .533 hitting percentage, while Ole Miss connected at a .139 (14-9-36) figure during the period. Carolina also had a 58-52 edge in digs.
Following an attack error by Katie Kramer of Ole Miss, the Gamecocks snagged a 12-7 lead in game one, but the Lady Rebels countered with a 4-0 run to close the deficit to one. Carolina answered with four consecutive points and eventually extended its advantage to seven, 22-15, on a kill by Vanden Hull. Mississippi never came within more than five points of tying the score the remainder of the frame.
With the scored tied 8-8 in the second game, the Lady Rebels ran off seven consecutive points. South Carolina tried to recover and was able to close the Ole Miss lead to five when a Meredith Moorhead kill made the scoreboard read 19-14. Mississippi, however, continued to roll and finished the game hitting at an even .500 with 20 kills and only three errors on 34 attacks.
USC controlled the majority of game three, with its lead swelling to as many as nine on three occasions. The last of those came when Kujundzic ripped a kill from the right side to put the Gamecocks ahead 23-14. Mississippi, though, hung around and outscored South Carolina 11-4 to make the score 27-25. Still clinging to a two-point lead after a couple more rallies, USC received a break when Ole Miss’s Lauren Moffett dumped her serve in the net. Cole gave her team the kill it needed to take a 2-1 lead after three games.
Carolina led 18-16 in the fourth stanza before going on a 12-3 tear to finish the match. Mississippi made five errors during the stretch, while their counterparts had five kills and a pair of aces. After Moorhead gave the Gamecocks their 28th point, the final two came off a hitting error by Kramer and a service misfire by Langley.
South Carolina returns to action hosting Mississippi State on Sunday at 1 p.m. The match can be seen live on SEC-TV.
