Gamecocks Lose Road Finale at Ole Miss, 3-1
Nov. 22, 2017
OLE MISS 3, SOUTH CAROLINA 1
OXFORD, MISS. – South Carolina dropped its final home match of the season Wednesday night, losing 3-1 at Ole Miss (11-25, 25-21, 18-25, 19-25). The Gamecocks are now 12-17 this season, 5-12 in the SEC, heading into Friday night’s finale.
SET 1: The Rebels opened with seven kills on their first 11 swings of the game to build a 9-3 lead, goading the Gamecocks into a quick timeout. What would end up to be an 11-1 run that crossed through the timeout pushed Ole Miss ahead 17-4, and the Gamecocks would get no closer than 12 points the rest of the way in a 25-11 rout. The home side put up an incredible 27 digs to limit Carolina to just five kills on 41 swings, leading to a .389 to .000 advantage in hitting percentage.
SET 2: South Carolina was able to terminate on its attacks more efficiently to start game two, and surpassed its set-one kill total before it even reached 15 points. The lead bounced back and forth for most of the game, but a pair of Ole Miss attack errors out of the media timeout sparked a 6-0 run that pushed Carolina to a 19-14 lead. Ole Miss appeared to have cut the lead down to one, 22-21, but the Gamecocks won a challenge that flipped the score to 23-20 and used the Rebels’ ninth attack error of the set to close out the 25-21 win. Alicia Starr led the Gamecock offense with five kills on 10 swings with no errors in the set.
SET 3: Ole Miss claimed the lead from the start of the set thanks to a pair of service aces. Behind the play of Mikayla Shields, the Gamecocks hung around before a 5-0 run tied the same back up at 16. The sophomore right side accounted for seven kills on 13 swings with no errors for the game. Ole Miss answered back with a quick 3-0 run out of a timeout, and the Rebels won 25-18 to take a 2-1 lead.
SET 4: The home side put balls away to start set four, earning its first nine points off kills to jump out to a 9-5 lead. Ole Miss extended its lead out to 16-7 out of a Gamecock timeout, and Carolina would not get any closer than five points for the remainder of the game, falling 25-19.
Stat of the Match
Ole Miss’ defense came into the night ranked second in the SEC in digs per set with a 16.08 average, and the Rebels were even better on Wednesday. They finished with 83 digs, including 27 in the first set alone, to limit Carolina to a .174 hitting percentage. The 83 digs are the most by a Gamecock opponent all season; two more than second-place Alabama had over five sets on Oct. 22.
Notable
- Courtney Koehler earned her 10th double-double of the season behind her 38 assists and 14 digs. She has four double-doubles in the last seven matches, and has either set or matched her career high for digs twice in the last three matches.
- Aubrey Ezell matched her personal best with her 47th ace of the season in the third set. The junior now has the two highest ace totals of the last 15 years.
- Thanks to her team-high 19 digs, Ezell became the fourth Gamecock ever with 500 digs in a single season. The previous three were Mikaela Christiaansen (2014), Hannah Lawing (2010) and Diane Denton (1987).
- Freshman Mikayla Robinson moved into the top five in the rally-scoring era for solo blocks, block assists and total blocks after finishing with eight Wednesday night. She has the most block assists by a Gamecock freshman since 1990.
- Mikayla Shields moved into the rally-scoring era top 10 for career points, now with 860.0 in her career. The sophomore’s 17 kills also moved up to ninth for career kills in the rally-scoring era, with 751.
- Alicia Starr shined with five kills in the second set; Starr hadn’t posted five kills in a whole game since Oct. 22, a span of five matches. The sophomore also set a career high for digs, with 13.
Up Next
After celebrating Thanksgiving, the team will host Mississippi State for the season finale and senior night on Friday at 7 p.m. The senior night ceremony for Abreia Epps and Courtney McKeag will be held prior to first serve.
