Jan. 8, 2013

2012 SC VB Notes (Final)

South Carolina Team Notes

• The Gamecocks secured a winning record in 2012, going 18-14. It marks the second time in the last decade that the team has accomplished that feat, matching the 21-9 2008 team.
• For the second time in a decade, the team also posted a hitting percentage over .250, finishing at .255. That was 29 points better than the 2011 team.
• Out of the six hitters who played in half the sets and averaged at least one kill per set, three hit .265 or better (Thévenin, Howley and Dozier).
• The Gamecocks are 17-0 when they won the hitting percentage battle and 11-3 when making 15 or less attack errors. More record breakdowns are found on page 6.
• On the Mississippi weekend trip, the Gamecocks only gave up four points in the service game (two service errors at Mississippi State, one ace at both MSU and Ole Miss).
• The Oct. 21 outing against the Rebels was the first all year the team did not make a service error.
• At No. 21 Tennessee (9/23), the Gamecocks did not allow an ace, successfully passing all 87 serves they received.
• The last time South Carolina did not allow an ace came in Scott Swanson’s first game as head coach, against Montana on Aug. 26, 2011.
• Only two non-conference opponents hit over .200 against South Carolina: East Tennessee State (.207) and UAB (.285). In 17 of the 20 SEC matches, the foes have topped that mark.
• Four teams went undefeated in the opening weekend of SEC play: Florida, Missouri, Texas A&M and South Carolina.

Senior Honors

• Taylor Bruns ended her career sixth in assists (2,858), passing Shellie Higgins with her 37 assists at Coastal Carolina. Bruns ranks eighth in assists per set (7.58) in Gamecock history.
• She’s also been honored three times on the SEC Academic Honor Roll.
• Christina Glover also is a three-time SEC Academic Honor Roll member and earned placement on the 2010 SEC Volleyball Community Service Team.

Attacking the Record Book (Non-Seniors)

• Juliette Thévenin jumped to eighth in SC history with 1,124 kills and with 2,903 attacks, becoming the 10th Gamecock to post 1,100 career kills.
• Thévenin’s now second in kills per set (3.89) and 11th in digs per set (2.72) on the career charts.
• Thévenin ranks 13th on the career points chart (as it would stand had everyone played in the rally-scoring era) with 1,243.5. She’s 10 points behind Megan Laughlin, who sits in 12th place.
• She’s fourth on the points-per-set charts with a 4.30 average.
• Thévenin’s 2013 ranked second on the rally-scoring era single-season charts in kills (453), kills per set (4.31) and attacks (1,073).
• Paige Wheeler became the ninth Gamecock in history with 1,000 digs, ending 2012 with 1,001. She is third on SC’s career charts in digs per set (3.58).
• Wheeler’s 2013 stood fourth on both the digs (414) and digs-per-set (3.91) rally-scoring era charts.

Record-Charting Single-Match Performances

• South Carolina closed 2012 with a .357 hitting percentage in the five-set win over Arkansas (11/23), tops in a five-set match in program history.
• The Gamecocks hit .297 in a five-set match against East Tennessee State (8/25), the fifth-best mark in that length contest in program history.
• Sophomore Bethanie Thomas’s three solo blocks vs. ETSU (8/25) tied for third on the program’s five-set match listing.
• Juliette Thévenin tied the mark for the second-most attack tries in a match at Alabama, posting 73.
• Thévenin also tied the most solo blocks in a five-set match at South Carolina, posting four at Alabama. That matches Lori Rowe’s output against North Carolina on Oct. 7, 1983.

All About the Winning Streak

• The 13-0 start for the Gamecocks ranks as the best in the program’s NCAA-era history.
• The 13-match winning streak was the second-longest documented skein in program history.
• The longest winning streak came from Oct.15-Nov. 18, 1983, as the team posted a 14-match streak.
• That skein came to an end in the 1983 Metro Conference Tournament final. Florida State won the five-set match to earn the automatic berth to the third NCAA Tournament. The field only had 28 teams at the time.
• That 1983 team also had the best start previously in program history with 12 wins. That was the second-longest documented winning streak for the Gamecocks until this year.
• For the second-consecutive year, South Carolina was the last undefeated team in the SEC.

Home Matches Notes

• South Carolina played 17 matches plus one exhibition in the Volleyball Competition Facility in 2012, the most since moving into the building in 1996.
• It’s one more than the inaugural season of the VCF, when SC hosted the 1996 SEC Tournament.
• The most home matches ever for South Carolina came in 1990, when the team hosted 21 contests.
• The Gamecocks won 11 home matches, the sixth time the team has posted double-digit wins in the 17-year history of the VCF.
• This 2012 team holds the second-longest winning streak for a Gamecock team since moving into the VCF in 1996, winning 12 straight matches from Nov. 6, 2011 to Sept. 16, 2012.
• All three double-digit VCF winning streaks were snapped by Florida, a 17-match span from Oct. 14, 2001 to Oct. 24, 2002, a 10-match stretch from Sept. 13, 2000, to Nov. 10, 2000, and the latest.

All About 2012 Attendance

• A record number of fans packed the VCF for the regular-season matches, with a total number of 11,787 attendees this season.
• The average attendance for a match, 693, stands third in history, behind 2001 and 2002.
• The match against Clemson on Sept. 7 had 1,512 fans in attendance, the third-largest crowd in the history of the Volleyball Competition Facility.
• It was the largest crowd since 2001 in the building, when 1,793 people packed the stands for the Sept. 21 match against Florida.
• The 1,512 fans were nearly 250 over the capacity of the gym in the setup the team utilized starting during SEC play last fall.
• Four times, over 1,000 people have packed the VCF for a match (1,030 vs. Georgia, 1,031 vs. No. 12 Florida, 1,004 vs. Mississippi), tying the 1996 inaugural year in the building for the most crowds over 1,000.

No Questioning Competition Level in SEC

• In the final 2012 RPI report from the NCAA (Dec. 17), the Gamecocks tied for 88th.
• South Carolina beat top 100 RPI teams Arkansas (32), Clemson (55), Georgia (74) and LSU (79).
• Ten of the 13 SEC teams rank in the top 100 in the NCAA RPI.
• Eleven of the 14 losses came against top-100 RPI teams: Florida twice 10, Texas A&M twice 17, Kentucky 20, Tennessee twice 27, Missouri 59, Auburn twice 64 and LSU 79.
• Two of the three opponents in the 2012 Carolina Clash held better final 2011 RPIs than SC’s first eight foes.
• Clemson finished at 54, UAB 84 and Winthrop 149 in the last RPI of 2011 (Niagara was 146).

Gamecocks in the SEC Stat Superlatives

• South Carolina hit the fourth-highest hitting percentage in four-set match (.370 vs. Niagara) and the second highest in a five-setter (.357 vs. Arkansas) for an SEC team this fall.
• That hitting percentage against Arkansas was also the second-highest output in SEC play this year in a five-set affair.
• The Gamecocks posted two of the highest ace outings in conference play with nine against Arkansas (11/23) and Mississippi State (10/19)
• Juliette Thévenin’s 27 kills at Alabama ties for the second most by an SEC player this fall in any match and the most for anyone in an SEC contest. Thévenin’s 73 swings at Alabama stand fourth among her league peers this year, both overall and in conference action.
• Cara Howley’s five aces at Mississippi State tied for the most for an SEC player in a three-set match and for second in any match length this year.
• The Gamecocks’ .411 hitting percentage versus Miss. State (11/9) is seventh in SEC-only matches.
• In SEC matches only, Juliette Thévenin has tied for the most in a five-set match (27 at Alabama) the third-most kills in a three-set match this year (18 vs. Georgia and LSU). She’s tied for the fifth most in a four-set contest (22 vs. Auburn).
• Thévenin posted the most points in an SEC match with 32 at Alabama. She also stands second (20.5 vs. Georgia) in points in a sweep this year in an SEC match.

Historical Records

• South Carolina is 724-549 (.569) all-time in volleyball.
• In the Volleyball Competition Facility, the team stands at 148-75 (.664).

Three Inked For 2013 Season

• Kellie McNeil, Dessaa Legros and Katlyn McDaniel will be part of the 2013 roster. McNeil, a 5-11 setter transfer from Minnesota, joins the team for the spring practice period.
• She averaged 6.25 assists and 0.25 aces per set as a freshman with the Golden Gophers.
• Legros, 5-10, played four years at Allatoona (Ga.) High, helping the team to an area title in 2010.
• McDaniel, 5-11, averaged 1.75 blocks per set this fall with Spring Valley.
• McDaniel earned all-state honors from the South Carolina Coaches Association for Women’s Sports.

Preseason Tournament Accolades

• Gamecocks Cara Howley (Gamecock Invitational) and Taylor Bruns (Carolina Clash) swept the home tourney MVPs.
• Christina Vereb and Paige Wheeler made the Gamecock Invitational all-tournament team, while Howley and Thévenin garnered Carolina Clash all-tourney team accolades.
• Juliette Thévenin took Patriot Invitational Most Outstanding Player and Best Hitter honors.
• Taylor Bruns was named Best Setter, and Wheeler claimed Best Defender accolades.

The Difference Between Winning & Losing

• South Carolina hit .314 in matches it won and .179 in those it loses, a .135 difference.
• When South Carolina won, foes hit .172. That jumped to .348 if the Gamecocks lost, a .176 gap.
• When winners, the Gamecock posted 2.5 more digs per set than the opposition. When the foes triumphed, the Gamecocks were outdug by 2.72 a frame.
• In wins, South Carolina took the blocking battle by averages of 1.95 to 1.64. In setbacks, the Gamecocks got outblocked 2.54 to 1.39.