Volleyball's Road Rally Falls Short at LSU

BATON ROUGE, LA. – South Carolina was unable to escape from a 2-0 deficit on the road Sunday afternoon, losing in five sets at LSU. The Gamecocks rallied back behind a trio of hitters, but weren’t able to close out the miraculous comeback. The loss snaps a four-game win streak and moves the team to 19-7 overall and 10-6 in SEC play. LSU (12-15, 7-9 SEC) has now won five of its last six matches.
 
SET 1: Early errors put the Gamecocks behind quickly, as three unforced attack errors and three missed serves put LSU up 15-10 at the media time out. Courtney Furlong and Mikayla Robinson led the offense with four and three kills, respectively, but the Caroline offense hit just .098 as a team. On the other side of the net, the Tigers played clean and didn’t commit a single attack error after going ahead 11-8, and pulled away for the 25-16 win.
 
SET 2: South Carolina would climb back in to the match to start set two, but a late run from LSU was the difference in a 25-20 win for the home team. The Gamecocks led at the media timeout, 15-13, but LSU went on to score 12 of the next 14 points and cruised to a 2-0 lead in the match. The Tigers remained efficient on offense and out-hit South Carolina .351 to .186. Brittany McLean led the team with five kills.
 
SET 3: The Gamecocks were able to clean up their side of the net in the third set, and an improved offense helped them extend the match with a 25-22 win in the third. Both teams hit comfortably over .300 in the set, but 18 kills from South Carolina made the difference. After a quiet start to the match, Mikayla Shields went for seven kills on 14 swings, and McLean and Furlong each added four kills of their own.
 
SET 4: The comeback effort continued into the fourth, when a key run early helped the Gamecocks stay alive in a 25-19 win. With the set tied 9-9, the Gamecocks went on a 5-0 run behind Amari Wilson’s serve. Shields had two kills and a block during the run, and finished with seven more kills in the set. South Carolina out-hit LSU .342 to .109, thanks to 22 digs and four blocks from the defense.
 
SET 5: It was a wild finale to the match, with the dust settling after 12 ties and six lead changes with LSU coming away with the 17-15 win. The two sides traded points for almost the entire set, the Gamecocks appeared to find the breathing room with back-to-back points for an 11-9 lead, but the Tigers responded with three straight points to take the lead late. LSU was able to regain its efficiency on offense, hitting .344 for the set and going without an attack error until a McLean solo block made it 15-14 in favor of the visitors. The Tigers answered again with three points in a row, finishing the win with a block and a service ace.
 
NOTABLE

• South Carolina falls to 3-11 at LSU during the rally-scoring era, with the Tigers winning 10 of the last 11 meetings in Baton Rouge.
• South Carolina had three hitters finish with 15 or more kills for the night: Shields (19), McLean (18) and Furlong (18). The last time the team accomplished that feat was on Sept. 5, 2008 against Rhode Island.
• Not only were the team’s left-side attackers potent, they were efficient. McLean and Furlong combined for a .321 hitting percentage along with the 36 kills.
• Furlong set a career high with her 18 kills. Her previous best was 13 against Winthrop during her freshman season.
• After 10 kills vs. Ole Miss Friday, Furlong has back-to-back matches with double-digit kills for the first time since Sept. 12, 2015 – her freshman season.
• With her 68^thservice ace of the season Sunday, Aubrey Ezell moved into sole possession of sixth place for most in a single season in the program’s 46-year history.
• Shields overcame early errors to finish with 19 kills and 15 digs in the match. That’s the junior’s seventh double-double of the season and 23^rdof her career, good for 14^th-most in program history.
• Courtney Koehler would also post a double-double, her 57 assists are a career high and her 13 digs marked her fifth double-double of the season. The junior now has 16 for her career.
• Shields’ 61 attacks are the most by a Gamecock since Juliette Thévenin’s 61 against Arkansas on Oct. 4, 2013. 

STAT OF THE MATCH: South Carolina was unable to lock down LSU’s pin hitters, Taylor Bannister, Milan Stokes and Toni Rodriguez, who combined for 50 of the team’s 69 total kills. In the three sets won, the trio hit .338 with 31 kills. In the two sets South Carolina won, those numbers dropped to .169 and 19, respectively. 
 
UP NEXT: The final week of the regular season poses a tough slate for South Carolina. The Gamecocks have a quick turnaround, hosting No. 11 Kentucky on Wednesday at 7 p.m. at home before traveling on Thanksgiving Day to get ready for a Black Friday showdown with No. 13 Florida in Gainesville on Nov. 23 for a 7 p.m. first serve.