Oct. 22, 2006
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AUBURN, Ala. — The South Carolina volleyball team won its 14th-straight match against Auburn on Sunday in Auburn, Ala., by a 3-2 score (28-30, 30-25, 28-30, 30-22, 15-10). The Gamecocks improved to 12-11 overall with the victory and 5-7 in the Southeastern Conference, and the Tigers dropped to 12-11 and 4-8.
USC’s Shonda Cole recorded her 12th match of the year with at least 20 kills, piling up 25 against the Tigers on 68 attempts. Marija Milosevic had her ninth double-figure kill match in 2006 with 15, while Lynae Vanden Hull reached double digits for the third time in four matches with 14. Ivana Kujundzic made eight kills for the Gamecocks and led in blocks with a career-best eight. Iris Santos had a career high with 64 assists and added 15 digs for her ninth double-double of the season. Alexcis Thomson, Sarah Cline and Dinelia Concepcion all had 10-plus digs as well.
Four Tigers reached double figures in the kills category, led by Rachel Shanks’ 17. Whitney Jacob tallied 16, Jelena Sekulic posted 15 and Jessica Glover added 13. Glover also had a match-high 21 digs, and Shanks and Jacob also notched double-doubles with 17 and 13 digs, respectively. Joanna Pappas made 60 assists, eight digs and five blocks.
South Carolina hit at a .249 (76-29-189) clip and Auburn recorded a .215 (69-30-181) figure. The Tigers’ 76 digs was one more than USC had and the Gamecocks made 10 blocks to Auburn’s nine.
After both teams battled back and forth in game one, the Tigers took a 24-21 lead following a kill by Sekulic. USC used two hitting errors and a kill by Milosevic to win the next three rallies and tie the score. The ensuing two points belonged to Auburn, but South Carolina countered with a 4-0 run to take a 28-26 advantage. The Tigers then capitalized on two Gamecock errors and received a pair of kills from Glover to win the next four rallies and the game.
Cole led Carolina to a victory in game two after posting just three kills in the first frame. Once the Gamecocks were up 3-2, they never relinquished the upper hand. USC led by as many as seven at 27-20 following a Belita Salters kill that capped a 5-0 run. Cole accounted for five of South Carolina’s final seven points with four kills and a combined block with Kujundzic. For the Stanza, Cole tallied eight kills and a couple block assists for nine points.
Cole continued to pile up kills in the third game, adding 10 more to her total. USC recovered from a10-6 hole by winning seven of the next eight rallies to make the scoreboard read 13-11 in its favor. The score remained tight the rest of the frame, and it was still tied at 24 following a kill by Milosevic. Carolina won the next point, but Auburn responded with a 3-0 spurt and eventually won on a kill by Jacob.
In game four, South Carolina won four straight points with the score tied 2-2 and soon afterward went on a 6-0 run to lead 13-4. Belita Salters helped the Gamecocks cruise through the remainder of game four with six kills on eight attempts while making no errors. As a team, USC hit .333 (17-5-36) during the period, compared to .176 (13-7-34) for Auburn.
Auburn took a 6-4 advantage in the deciding game, but South Carolina managed to win the next five rallies to take a commanding 9-6 lead. Milosevic and Kujundzic missed on a couple of attacks on the following two points to let the Tigers climb within one, but Santos dumped a ball to put the Gamecocks back up by two. Kujundzic served up an ace that gave USC a three-point lead at 12-9 and followed up with another on her next serve. Cole provided a tip kill on the left side that won the match for Carolina.
The Gamecocks next host Arkansas and No. 12 LSU on Friday and Sunday at 7 and 1:30 p.m. in the Volleyball Competition Facility.
