Oct. 15, 2006
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COLUMBIA, S.C. — The South Carolina volleyball team suffered a 3-2 (30-27, 20-30, 30-26, 22-30, 10-15) loss to Mississippi State on Sunday afternoon in Columbia, S.C. With half of the regular-season SEC schedule now in the books, the Gamecocks sit at 11-10 overall and 4-6 in the league. The Bulldogs are 12-8 and 3-7 in the conference.
For the second-straight contest, USC’s Shonda Cole hit an even 20 kills to mark her 11th 20-kill match of the season. Lynae Vanden Hull gave a strong performance, tallying 18 kills and five blocks, three of which were solo efforts for a career high. Her 18 kills also were the most since hitting a career-high 27 at Kentucky on Oct. 8, 2003. Iris Santos recorded 46 assists and 13 digs for her eighth double-double of the year. Alexcis Thomson chipped in 16 digs, while Sarah Cline had a career-best 14.
Mississippi State’s Martina Gregusova led all attackers with 26 kills on 54 attempts. Orshi Kriegel had 18 kills and 10 digs, while Erin Seago managed a dozen kills and five blocks. Megan Lukasek had a game-high 22 digs, and Eva Kriegel and Jamie Joyner added 14 and 12 digs, respectively.
USC hit just .136 (57-32-184) compared to Mississippi State’s .260 (74-28-177) figure. The Bulldogs hit at least .300 in four of the five games, while South Carolina was below .100 for three of them. MSU out-dug USC 72-66, but the Gamecocks held a 12-7.5 edge in blocks. Service aces also favored South Carolina 9-6.
Carolina went up 10-2 in game one after Eva Kriegel mishandled a set. The Bulldogs steadily recovered and eventually closed the gap to one, 16-15, following a kill by Joyner. USC answered with a 4-0 run that featured a pair of kills by Cole. Mississippi State was still within two at 28-26, but South Carolina received kills from Cole and Vanden Hull to take the first game by three.
With the scored tied 14-all in the second game, the Bulldogs took over and outscored the Gamecocks 16-6 the remainder of the way. South Carolina made six hitting errors during the stretch, while MSU countered with eight kills to USC’s one. Mississippi State led by as many as 12 up 29-17 before finishing with a 10-point victory.
South Carolina recovered from an early 12-9 hole, and later with the score tied at 19-19, the Gamecocks went on a 4-0 spurt that included two kills by Cole. Cline helped serve her team to a 28-22 advantage before Santos finished the stanza with a kill.
After USC won the first three points of game four, Mississippi State regrouped and went on to outscore the Gamecocks 9-5 to snatch the lead. Carolina was within two, 14-12, when Cole banged a kill from the left side, but the Bulldogs went on to win the next six rallies to increase their advantage to eight. South Carolina closed the gap to four, 25-21, before MSU won five of the final six points.
The Gamecocks gave up five points in a row in game five after winning the first two. Carolina then won four straight and extended the margin to two, 9-7, after a hitting misfire by Gregusova. The next four rallies belonged to the Bulldogs before Marija Milosevic hit one down the line to keep USC within one. Mississippi State responded with another 4-0 run to hand South Carolina its fifth five-game loss in 2006.
South Carolina next faces No. 8 Florida in Gainesville, Fla., on Friday at 8 p.m. Before heading home, the Gamecocks will travel to Auburn, Ala., for a 2:30 p.m. showdown with the Tigers on Sunday.
