Sept. 30, 2012
COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina (13-4, 2-4 SEC) dropped a three-set match to Ole Miss (8-6, 2-3 SEC) on Sunday afternoon, as the Rebels won the sets 25-19, 25-18, 25-23, in front of 1,004 fans at the Volleyball Competition Facility.
Ole Miss’s Kara Morgan posted a match-high eight kills and led the Rebels with two aces. Ty Laporte had seven kills on a .545 hitting percentage and five blocks, with two of those the solo variety. Setter Amanda Philpot had 24 assists, seven kills and six digs. Ashley Veach had 13 digs, and Rachael McLamore contributed 10 digs. Allegra Wells also had seven kills for the Rebels.
Junior Lindsey Craft led the Gamecocks with 12 digs in the contest. Redshirt sophomore middle blocker Cara Howley topped the team with nine points on five kills, three aces and two block assists, while freshman middle blocker Darian Dozier added four kills and five blocks, two of those solo. Junior outside hitter Juliette Thévenin added six kills.
Philpot led the Rebels to the 25-19 set-one win, posting four kills, two block assists and three digs. The Gamecocks posted more points than the Rebels in the set, 15-14, but 10 attacking errors cost South Carolina.
The second set was much like the first, with Ole Miss claiming it 25-18. Morgan had six kills without an error in the frame. Four times, Morgan stopped a South Carolina serving round with her kills. The Gamecocks’ redshirt freshman opposite Christina Vereb had four kills in the second set, while Craft posted eight of her digs in the frame as the libero.
South Carolina stormed back late in the third set but fell short, 25-23. The Rebels ran out to a 10-1 lead with an 8-0 run on Morgan’s serve. The Gamecocks fought back, with Howley landing two aces in a three-point stand that drew the Gamecocks within three at 20-17. Another three-point stand later tied it at 23-23, with freshman Jenna Allen putting away an Ole Miss overpass as part of the skein. But the Rebels finished out the set on a Gamecock service error and a block from Kellie Goss and Whitney Craven.
The Gamecocks had one more aces than the Rebels and three less service errors. Ole Miss claimed the rest of the statistical categories, including a .216-.028 advantage in hitting percentage. The 1,004 fans marks the fourth time the Gamecocks have listed a crowd over 1,000 this season, matching the 1996 inaugural season in the VCF for the most four-digit crowds in the facility’s history.
South Carolina heads west next weekend to face Texas A&M and LSU. Friday night’s match in College Station is set for a 9:30 PM EDT first serve, with SportsSouth providing television coverage.
