Nov. 13, 2008

South Carolina at No. 22 Kentucky | Friday, 7 p.m.

South Carolina at Tennessee | Sunday, 1:30 p.m.

General Information

Game Notes | Coach Somera

COLUMBIA, S.C. – The Carolina Gamecocks hit the road for the final time in 2008 in what is a showdown weekend for the top teams in the Southeastern Conference. South Carolina starts the weekend with a match at Kentucky on Friday night at 7 p.m. and closes it at Tennessee on Sunday in a contest being shown via tape delay at 3:30 p.m. ET on FOX Sports Net Regional.

The Wildcats, who are ranked 22nd nationally in the Bison/AVCA Coaches Poll, enter the weekend with a 23-4 record and just a match removed from its second SEC loss of the season at Mississippi. The Lady Vols bring a 19-8 overall record and a nine-match winning streak into the weekend. Both Kentucky and Tennessee play SEC-leading Florida on the weekend as well.

Gamecocks Persevere Through Injuries
The Gamecocks have been dealing with injuries to key members of the squad this season, with all but two offensive members of the starting rotation missing a match in 2008. Sophomore Megan Laughlin missed three SEC matches due to a leg injury, while classmate Annie Thomas has sat out most of the last 10 matches after a lower leg injury. Even redshirt senior Belita Salters and junior Meredith Moorhead have looked on from the sidelines for one match each suffering from different maladies. Despite the injuries, South Carolina has an 19-6 record and has assured itself of its best record since 2002, the last time the program made the NCAA Tournament.

Stepping Up in the Absences
While Thomas has been out for the better part of a month, South Carolina has seen its other outside hitters step up in her absence. Sophomore Hannah Lawing, who played on the back row during the first part of the year, filled the void in the third hitter spot. She improved her kills-per-set average from 0.27 to 2.16 while hitting a tick worse than Thomas (.164 to .166) in the 10 matches up front. Junior Meredith Moorhead has improved as well, hitting nearly 70 points better and making 0.3 kills more per frame. Overall, the Gamecocks’ record with Thomas was 13-2, while it’s 6-4 since her injury.

Belita Salters Continues Record Book Assault
Redshirt senior Belita Salters has done a lot during her time in Columbia. She already stands in the top 10 all-time in hitting percentage, solo blocks, block assists, total blocks and blocks per set. The chart of all the career lists she appears on, including the numbers of the people ahead of her, is located in the PDF version of the notes. Last season, Salters recorded 33 solo blocks and 128 total, averaging 1.21 blocks a game, which stood 10th in the Southeastern Conference in 2007.

Record-Type Performances
The middle blockers for South Carolina have turned in some stellar performances over the past two seasons, with redshirt senior Belita Salters writing her name in the single-match record books twice already in 2008. She hit a career-best .543 (21-2-35) in the five-set victory over UNLV, the third-highest average for a Gamecock in a five-set match. She followed that with a .536 (17-2-28) mark in the victory at Rhode Island in the Art Carmichael Classic, which stands fourth on the five-set match charts. Salters just missed making the three-set hitting percentage charts, falling one attempt shy with her .857 clip against Arkansas qualifying for the list (which would have stood second).

After watching Salters put her name in the record book twice, sophomore middle blocker Megan Laughlin decided to get in on the action. Her .652 (15-0-23) against the College of Charleston ranked as the fifth-best output in a three-set match in history, replacing Lori Rowe’s .636 versus Southern Miss on Oct. 15, 1983. But that mark got bumped off the list when Laughlin hit .733 (11-0-15) in the sweep of South Carolina State. Now Laughlin is tied for second on that chart with Rowe’s Nov. 12, 1983, performance against East Carolina.

That was not the only mark made on Oct. 23 against South Carolina State. In the first meeting between the volleyball teams of the two schools, the Gamecocks set a new program record with a .587 hitting percentage, topping the .561 mark set against Liberty on Sept. 1, 2000.

Is It That Simple?
The Gamecocks enter the weekend with a 19-6 record, and the match-by-match stats tell us one thing. If South Carolina out-hits its opponent, it wins. The Garnet and Black are 19-0 when they out-hit the opposition. In the team’s six losses, they were out-hit when they compiled percentages of .085 (Arizona State), .168 (Mississippi), .200 (Kentucky), .186 (Florida), .180 (Georgia) and .197 (LSU). Their worst performance in a win was at Arkansas, when the squad hit .182. The Gamecocks are also 17-0 when they have fewer hitting errors and 16-1 when they have more assists and more kills than the other side.

Individual Notables in Win/Loss Comparison
Some Gamecocks have been better about keeping an even keel through wins and losses. The most notable is Belita Salters. While her hitting percentage is down .182 points (.458-.276) from wins to losses, her kills per set are nearly the same, from 3.23 in triumphs to 3.04 in defeats. Libero Sarah Cline currently has performed better in losses than wins, making 4.04 digs per set in defeats compared to 3.83 in victories. The other person to perform better in losses than wins has been Meredith Moorhead, who has a 2.00 kills-per-frame mark in losses while making just 1.53 kills per game in wins. Moorhead also hits 67 points better in losses than wins.

Digs and Serve Reception Key to Gamecocks’ Start
When South Carolina’s season ended last November, the coaching staff immediately made a goal to improve the team’s defense, particularly digs and serve receptions. It seems that hard work has paid off. The Gamecocks currently ranks second in the SEC and stand 80th nationally with 15.28 digs per set. That’s just 1.9 digs off the squad’s pace from last season when each game contained five more points.

Something that might be missed, however, is the fact the team’s serve reception has also improved. Last year, South Carolina made 1.3 errors per set and successfully received a serve 94.5 percent of the time. The 2008 percentage stands just under that mark at 94.3 percent, while the squad now gives up 1.0 aces per set. In fact, the squad’s opponents have just 93 aces on the season while making 170 service errors in the process. The Gamecocks’ serving game has cut down on the errors, making 28 more errors than their 113 aces this season.

South Carolina in the SEC Stats
The Gamecocks stand out in the Southeastern Conference statistical rankings that come out each Monday. The Garnet and Black leads the conference with 13.76 kills and 12.70 assists per set. The squad also ranks second in the league with a 15.28 digs-per-set average and a .264 hitting percentage.

Junior Bridget Denson-Dorman leads the league in the individual assists category, while redshirt senior Belita Salters tops the SEC in hitting percentage. She joins with fellow middle blocker Megan Laughlin as one of only two duos from the same squad, the other being Kentucky, with two athletes in the top 10 in hitting. Salters and junior Ivana Kujundzic are one of two duos, along with Florida’s Kelly Murphy and Kristy Jaeckel, to stand in the top 10 in kills per set. Libero Sarah Cline ranks sixth on the individual digs-per-set chart.

Gamecock Version of Triplets
The Indianapolis Colts were the most recent version of “triplets” in the NFL, while it’s believed that the Dallas Cowboys originated the term talking about the team’s top three players. For the Gamecocks, the triplets are senior Belita Salters, junior Ivana Kujundzic and sophomore Megan Laughlin. As shown below, Kujundzic has led the Gamecocks 14 of the 25 matches this season in kills, while Salters has topped the squad seven times and Laughlin four. What that chart doesn’t show you is the consistency of the top three. Kujundzic has ranked second in nine of those 11 matches that she didn’t lead, while Salters finished second on eight occasions and Laughlin in seven. Others have stepped up when needed, as Meredith Moorhead and Annie Thomas have each ranked second in kills once. Moorhead has even led the squad once this season, at No. 8 Florida. And freshman Teresa Stenlund did her best Laughlin or Salters impression during her one start, providing a great second option on offense against LSU. Sophomore Hannah Lawing has also gotten in on the act, tying Salters for first in the home sweep of Arkansas.

Just Some Love, That’s All We Want
The Carolina Gamecocks have put themselves in impressive company, winning seven matches over teams that played in last year’s NCAA Tournament. Seven ranked teams have won more, while four others in the top 25 have matched that total. Five unranked teams, four of those that missed last year’s tourney, have accomplished the feat as well, including South Carolina. The others include 2007 NCAA Tournament participant Dayton, Miami (Fla.), Texas A&M and Tennessee. The full chart of those wins for these unranked teams, along with their overall records, is in the PDF notes linked above.

Road Tougher in Southeastern Conference
While playing in other team’s gyms is tough, it gets even tougher in the Southeastern Conference. Last year, the home team won 64 percent of their matches in league play, while the Gamecocks won just two matches on the road. In fact, from 2003-07, South Carolina won just nine road matches out of 43 tries. The last winning road record in SEC play came in 2002, when the squad went 7-1. Thus far in 2008, the Gamecocks are 4-4 away from Columbia against its league foes.

Belita Salters, Always a Bridesmaid?
Redshirt senior Belita Salters has been playing at an extremely high level in 2008, ranking 13th in the country in hitting percentage and 200th in kills per set. Some of her weekend totals have been outstanding, but each time she’s gone up for the SEC Offensive Player of the Week, she has not won. She earned MVP honors at the Art Carmichael Classic with her .463 hitting percentage on the weekend, but Georgia’s Maria Taylor averaged a double-double, had the only 30-kill match by an SEC player this season and helped her team to three wins at the Duke Invitational to take home the honors. Salters then led the team in kills at both Mississippi and Arkansas, hitting .418 in the process, but Florida’s Kelly Murphy grabbed both the offensive and freshman awards after her triple-double against the Razorbacks and 4.00 kills per set. Finally, Salters hit .591 in the home victories against Ole Miss and Arkansas, including a .857 performance against the Hogs, while leading the team in kills with 29, but the league office voted for Tennessee’s Farren Powe instead. Powe hit .593 on the weekend, but with just 18 kills, while helping extend Tennessee’s winning streak to seven matches.

Some Like It Better at Home
It’s not all that uncommon for teams to play better at home. Some Gamecocks, though, have a stark difference in statistics from home and away. Ivana Kujundzic has been much better at the Volleyball Competition Facility, averaging 4.19 kills per set on a .319 hitting percentage. Compare that to her 3.22 kills-per-set mark and .218 hitting percentage away from Columbia. Her defense, however, has been better away from home, making 3.13 digs per frame on the road compared to 2.49 at home. Belita Salters also seems to be a homebody, hitting .500 at home compared to .348 on the road. Meredith Moorhead hits .317 on the South Carolina campus and .177 elsewhere. As a team, the Gamecocks hit .098 higher at home (.323-.225) and make over two kills a set more than they have in 14 matches away from Columbia.

Hey, It’s an Improvement
The change from 30- to 25-point sets (or is it games?) has made comparing statistics from year to year more difficult. Averages are all down across the board, but there has been a noticable decline in one stat that cost the Gamecocks a year ago. That’s in the handling errors category. Last year, South Carolina made 108 ball handling errors in 106 games, not an average (1.02 per frame) that leads to much success. But this year, the Gamecocks have made just 21 in 92 sets, meaning they average less than one per match. That is one (small) reason for the turnaround.

Hitting Percentage Swings
South Carolina has been suffering through a low period in hitting efficiency during the past few seasons. After hitting .279 in 2002, the second-best mark in program history, the squad has not gotten within 35 points of that over the past half decade, peaking at .230 in 2005 before falling below .220 the past two seasons. This year’s team has changed that trend so far. The squad is hitting .264 on the season, second-best in the SEC. Last season’s .216 hitting percentage ranked fifth in the league.

Back on Track (Finally)
After suffering through five-consecutive losing seasons, South Carolina has clinched a winning one in 2008. The win over South Carolina State on Oct. 23 put the Gamecocks over the .500 threshold for the year. This will be the first winning season since 2002. Now the squad hopes to accomplish something else that 2002 team did: earn a bid into the NCAA Tournament. It’s not like the team has been that far away, finishing just three games or less under .500 in each of the past four seasons.

A Pair of Streaks End, One Survives
Two Gamecocks saw their consecutive sets-played streak come to an end during the opening weekend of SEC play. Middle blockers Belita Salters and Megan Laughlin both missed the match against LSU due to different ailments. That ended streaks of 141 and 140 straight sets played, respectively, for the pair. The longest current streak is held by Ivana Kujundzic, who has played in 184 straight sets, dating back to the Boston College match in 2007.

Blocking Is a Team Effort
With a lot of experience back, it makes working together easier. That has really come into play with the Gamecocks’ blocking efforts in 2008. The team still is led by Belita Salters and Megan Laughlin in the middle, but they have gotten a lot of help up front. Five of the six regular front-row players average around a block per match (0.3 blocks per set) in 2008, with the other checking in at 0.21 blocks per set, just below that threshold. Last season, five Gamecocks ended the year above that 0.3 mark.

Maybe Not a Team Effort, but Avoiding Blocks Are Good, Too
So far the Gamecocks have been adept at avoiding the opposition’s blocking schemes. South Carolina has been blocked an average of 1.78 times per set this season, which ranks third in the SEC. Kentucky leads the way with a 1.39 mark, while Alabama’s opponents have maintained a 1.60 blocks-per-set average this season. When South Carolina gets more blocks than they hit into, they are 11-0 on the year.

Kujundzic Takes Home Weekly Awards
Junior outside hitter Ivana Kujundzic picked up the Gamecocks’ first SEC award of the season, claiming the Offensive Player of the Week certificate on Monday, Sept. 15. Kujundzic also earned the CVU.com National Player of the Week award, the first national award for a Gamecock volleyball player since Sept. 16, 2006. The Subotica, Serbia, native averaged 4.36 kills and 3.09 digs per set with a .355 hitting percentage during the Carolina Challenge. She nearly single-handedly won the fifth set against archrival Clemson, recording six kills, including four that staved off match point or set up Carolina for the win.

Gamecocks Show Skills in Non-conference
Comparing the stats from each weekend is one bit of evidence about how much hard work during practice pays off for a team. The Gamecocks increased their offense in each weekend tournament, starting at 12.4 kills and 11.1 assists per set at Arizona State, moving to 13.5 kills and 11.4 assists in the Art Carmichael Classic before breaking out for 15.8 kills and 14.8 assists in the Carolina Challenge. The Garnet and Black’s hitting percentage also climbed each week, starting at .197 before shooting to .308 and .324. The defense has been steady, never dropping below 15.7 digs per frame during the non-conference weekends.

Garnet Bring Back Majority of Production
South Carolina should be able to pick up where they left off in 2007. In most major statistical categories, the squad returns 85 percent of the production from last season. The highest percentage back comes in assists and digs, as 94 percent of last year’s totals are back. The squad also has 85 percent of its aces back, including nine of the 10 players that registered at least one. Eighty-six percent of the kills return, including the top four in kills last season. The only category that “suffered” a loss is blocks, as a mere 74 percent (and the squad’s top two blockers) are back for 2008.

Winning Streak Snapped
The Gamecocks put together just the sixth winning streak of 10 or more matches in history. The 10-match skein that ended against Mississippi equals the longest streaks in 1978 and 2000. Just three streaks lasted longer in Gamecock lore: an 11-game run in 2002, which is the last year the Gamecocks made the NCAA Tournament, and two different streaks in 1983. That squad had a 12-match string to start the season and a 14-match streak near the end of the year. That final skein was snapped by Florida State in the Metro Conference Tournament Championship, keeping the Gamecocks out of the field of 28 for the 1983 NCAA Tournament.

Series History Against Kentucky
The Wildcats have won 21 of the 38 meetings between these two programs, including both matches last season and the earlier meeting this season. The Garnet and Black came out on top at home in 2006, the squad’s only win over Kentucky since 2003. In Lexington against UK, South Carolina is 6-13, with the last win coming on Nov. 5, 2003.

Scouting the Wildcats
The team currently in second in the Southeastern Conference, Kentucky holds a 23-4 overall record and a 14-2 mark in the league this year. Blocks have been a key for the Wildcats, as they lead the SEC in blocks at 2.83 per set and avoid more than anyone else at 1.39. They also make one more dig and two more kills than their foes each set. Teams have been very unsuccessful trying for aces against Big Blue, as the Wildcats have nearly doubled up their foes in aces, 150-80. Their blocking helps hold opponents to a .152 hitting percentage, which is .110 lower than they average. Sarah Mendoza leads the way with a 3.39 kills-per-set average and a second-ranking 2.53 digs-per-set mark. Lauren Rapp puts away three kills a frame and nearly a block a set, while middle blockers Queen Nzenwa and Becky Pavan both average more than 1.10 blocks per set. Nzenwa leads the squad with her .351 hitting percentage. Setter Sarah Rumely averages just over a kill and nearly 10 1/2 assists per set. Libero BriAnne Sauer averages 4.24 digs per set.

Series History Against Tennessee
The Gamecocks and Lady Volunteers have met 51 times previously, with Tennessee holding a narrow 26-25 advantage in the series. The squads have split each of the last two years, with both Gamecock wins coming at home in 3-1 decisions. South Carolina took the first match this season at home, 3-0. All time in Knoxville against the Lady Vols, South Carolina owns a 9-14 mark, getting the last victory on Nov. 8, 2002.

Scouting the Lady Volunteers
Tennessee has been on a roll after its weekend trip through Columbia and Gainesville, winning its last nine to hold a 19-8 overall record and a 12-4 SEC mark. The Lady Vol defense has been a major part, as they have passed the Gamecocks to take the top spot in the league stats in digs at 15.36 per set. Nikki Fowler has been a stalwart for UT, leading the team with 3.58 kills per set while ranking third in both digs per frame (2.38) and blocks per game (0.68). Milan Clarke makes 2.70 kills a set, while Mindy Flynn averages 1.90 kills a frame. A big part of Tennessee’s resurgence has been middle blocker Farren Powe, who has taken over the lead in SEC matches only with her .436 hitting percentage. Overall on the season, Powe hits .326, tops on the squad, while averaging just 1.89 kills per set. Tennessee utilizes two different setters, with both Kelsey Mahoney and Michaela Hanakova averaging over five assists per set. Libero Chloe Goldman, the reigning SEC Defensive Player of the Week, averages 4.71 digs per set. That mark is just 0.01 behind LSU’s Elena Martinez for the top spot in all matches.