Oct. 10, 2008
COLUMBIA, S.C. – Behind junior setter Bridget Denson-Dorman’s double-double, South Carolina swept Tennessee, 25-22, 25-14, 25-13, on Friday night at the Volleyball Competition Facility. The Gamecocks stand at 14-2 on the season and 6-1 in Southeastern Conference play, while the Lady Vols fall to 10-7 and 4-3.
Denson-Dorman dished out 37 assists and made 12 digs while also adding four kills, two aces and a block. Junior outside hitter Ivana Kujundzic topped the squad with 18 kills and contributed eight digs and three blocks. Sophomore middle blocker Megan Laughlin finished with a .583 hitting percentage on nine kills, while sophomore outside hitter Hannah Lawing added eight kills. Junior libero Sarah Cline had a match-best 15 digs and two aces. Nikki Fowler led UT with eight kills, while Milan Clarke and Kylie Marshall added seven. Libero Chloe Goldman added 10 digs.
The Carolina Gamecocks ran out to a 4-0 lead to start the match before Tennessee fought back to take a 10-9 advantage. The squads stayed within two points of each other until the end, when South Carolina took the final four points of the set. Kujundzic started the closing run with a kill and added another to put the Gamecocks at set point. Laughlin ended it at 25-22 with her fourth kill of the frame. Redshirt senior middle blocker Salters also had four kills in the set.
South Carolina controlled the second set from the beginning, taking 5-1 and 11-5 leads early. Kujundzic kills bookended the first four-point run, while the six-point skein that followed included two Denson-Dorman aces. Another five-point swing pushed the Garnet and Black’s lead to 22-10, as four different Gamecocks had kills in the run. Kujundzic capped the 25-14 set win with her seventh kill of the frame. Laughlin was a perfect 4-for-4 in the second, while South Carolina combined to hit .394.
The third set was a spirited back-and-forth affair, as neither team took more than a two-point advantage until the Gamecocks put together a four-point run to take a 23-19 lead. Lawing started the string with a kill, with Cline following with an ace. Kujundzic came up with a kill as well before combining with redshirt freshman Tory Anderson for a block. Tennessee fought back to within one at 23-22 after a kill by Farren Powe and a block by Powe and Kayla Jeter. But the duo of Anderson and Kujundzic got another block to put South Carolina to match point. A Jeter kill extended the match, but a Tennessee attack went long to hand the frame and match to the Gamecocks, 25-23. Denson-Dorman had six digs in the final set alone.
The Gamecocks out-hit the Lady Volunteers, .310 to .215, while they also out-set, out-served and out-dug the visitors. Tennessee, the league’s leading team in digs during SEC play, finished with five less digs per set than their average in its previous six SEC outings. Tennessee did out-block Carolina.
South Carolina hosts Kentucky on Sunday in a battle for sole possession of second place in the SEC. Match time is set for 1:30 p.m. EDT.
