Aug. 29, 2008
TEMPE, Ariz. – The Gamecock volleyball team came back in its second match of the ASU Sheraton Classic to get a 3-1 victory over defending Atlantic-10 champion Dayton at Wells Fargo Arena on Friday evening. The match moves both South Carolina and Dayton to 1-1 on the season.
Junior outside hitter Ivana Kujundzic her first double-double of the season with 14 kills and 12 digs while also making three solo blocks. Sophomore middle blocker Megan Laughlin added 15 kills while hitting .407, while senior middle blocker Belita Salters had 11 kills and three blocks. Senior libero Dinelia Concepcion had 20 digs to lead Carolina, while sophomore Hannah Lawing contributed 14. Setter Bridget Denson-Dorman got her first double-double in the Garnet and Black, setting 37 kills and digging 15 balls. Nicole Batemen led the Flyers with 17 kills and 22 digs. Bethany Ackerhielm added 15 kills.
The Gamecocks immediately got into a 4-0 hole in the first set before starting to work out of it. They got to 7-5 behind a pair of kills by Salters and a block by the senior and Denson-Dorman. A pair of South Carolina hitting errors caused head coach Ben Somera to call a timeout at 10-6, and the squad responded with Kujundzic’s first kill. The teams traded sideouts until a pair of Flyer kills preceded a block by Bethany Akerhielm and Becky Novacek to give Dayton the 15-9 advantage. The Garnet responded with six of the next seven points, including a perfect dump by the setter Denson-Dorman. Another pair of points were capped by a Denson-Dorman kill, putting Carolina down by one, 17-16. An Annie Thomas solo block brought the Gamecocks within one again at 22-21. A Dayton hitting error tied it up, but a Garnet blocking error and a Bateman kill gave the Flyers set point. The Gamecocks responded, capturing four straight points to take the set, 26-24. Kujundzic had a kill to tie it up, while a Tory Anderson solo block clinched the win. Three solo blocks for the Carolina Gamecocks were the difference in the first set.
Dayton ran out to an 8-3 lead in the second set. Four different Flyers had kills in a four-point stretch. That lead eventually grew to 21-12, with the final three points coming on different South Carolina errors. The Gamecocks made it 22-15 after a pair of blocks by Denson-Dorman, first in tandem with Laughlin followed by a solo. The teams would trade sideouts from there, with Dayton clinching the set two win at 25-17 on Bateman’s cross-court smash. The Flyers hit .304 (19-5-46), with Lindsay Fletemier getting five kills in the frame to lead both sides.
The Carolina Gamecocks came out and dominated the third frame, taking leads at 5-2, 12-6, and 20-13. The last score came after a three-point run on a Laughlin kill and ace and a Salters tip that fell to the floor. Dayton got it back to 20-16 after a pair of kills and a South Carolina handling error. That swing caused Somera to call his final timeout, and it helped to swing the momentum. Denson-Dorman started with a kill, and it was followed by a Moorhead and Salters block. Denson-Dorman followed with a let-helped ace to make it 23-16. A Dayton error put the Garnet at set point, but it would not end until five points later, when Kujundzic ended a four-point Flyer run with a cross-court smash to close out the third, 25-20. The Gamecocks hit a match-best .250 (12-3-36) in the third.
South Carolina fought out of an early 7-4 deficit to take a 14-10 advantage after getting seven out of eight points, bookended by Salters kills. The lead stretched to 17-12 after kills by Moorhead and Thomas. The lead grew to 21-14 on kills by Laughin and Salters. Bateman brought the Flyers back to 22-18 with a kill and a solo block. Two Gamecock errors cut the lead to 22-20, but Kujundzic stopped the run with a kill. A Thomas kill gave South Carolina set point, but Bateman extended the match with her shot down the line. Thomas would close out the match with her third kill of the contest. Laughin had five kills in the final frame.
The Gamecocks end their trip west with an 11 a.m. MST match against UNLV at the Wells Fargo Arena.
