Oct. 7, 2016
ATHENS, GA. – The South Carolina volleyball team lost at Georgia Friday night, 3-1. Mikayla Shields led the team with 14 kills and hit .522, but the Gamecocks (13-3, 1-3 SEC) could not overcome 12 aces from the Bulldogs (13-5, 1-4 SEC).
1st Set: The freshman Shields helped set the pace early, scoring four of the team’s first eight points in the match off her kills. The Gamecock offense was diverse and efficient in the set, as Shields finished the game with five kills, Dessaa Legros with five and Abreia Epps with three. The Bulldogs cut the margin to one, 15-14, but would get no closer in the set. Carolina pulled away behind a 6-2 run late in the set thanks to a tough serve from Aubrey Ezell and a pair of kills from Legros.
2nd Set: Georgia served tough to answer back with a lead to begin set two, 12-8, behind a pair of aces. The home side would grow the lead to 18-10 as Carolina struggled to get out of key rotations. While serving, the Gamecocks were able to chip away at the sizable deficit, cutting it to 21-17, but ran out of time and went into halftime tied at 1-all. Shields added five more kills in the second set to lead the offense.
3rd Set: The Bulldogs got off to another fast start on serve, taking the 4-0 lead. The Gamecocks rallied to tie the set back up for most of the early going, but for a time were unable to string together the run it needed to take over the momentum. Alicia Starr provided a spark in the mid-game, picking up kills on two straight possessions to help Carolina take a 14-12 lead, its first lead since it was up 2-1 in the second set.
Georgia put the pressure back on, and clawed back to take the lead at 22-21. Carolina would not have another rally in it, and fell 2-1 in the match behind a 25-22 loss.
4th Set: The ‘Dawgs continued to blitz South Carolina with their serves the fourth set, picking up five aces in their first 11 total points in the game for an 11-4 advantage. That lead grew to 13, 20-7, and the Bulldogs were able to hold off a pair of late-game runs by the Gamecocks to secure the match with a 25-18 win.
Stat of the Match
The Bulldogs served with abandon on Friday, racking up 12 aces over the four sets ââ’¬” including seven in the fourth alone. It was a season-high for any Gamecock opponent, with the next closest being nine against UT-Martin. The last opponent to have 12 or more aces in a match was North Florida on Sept. 13, 2014.
Up Next
The Gamecocks wrap up the weekend back in the friendly confines of the Carolina Volleyball Center, hosting No. 11 Florida at noon Sunday. The match will be broadcasted nationally on ESPNU. Admission to the match is free, but fans are encouraged to leave plenty of time for travel due to higher demands on parking due to football’s 2:30 kickoff.
