Volleyball Faces Two SEC Road Tests

COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina (10-6, 2-2 SEC) begins its first road swing of the conference season Friday night, facing Texas A&M (10-3, 2-2 SEC) at 9 p.m. ET. The team caps the weekend with a match at Arkansas (6-9, 0-3 SEC) on Sunday at 2 p.m. ET. Friday’s match with the Aggies will air on the SEC Network, Sunday’s match is on the SEC Network+.

WEEKEND NOTABLES (KENTUCKY, MISSISSIPPI STATE)

• With the loss to Kentucky, the Wildcats are now 13-0 in the series dating back to 2010, losing just five sets total in that span, and have not lost at home to South Carolina since 2003.
• The team’s .099 hitting percentage at Kentucky was its lowest in the Tom Mendoza era; it was the lowest since Nov. 19, 2017 at Texas A&M.
• Mikayla Robinson hit .611 in the win over Mississippi State, the highest hitting percentage by a Gamecock since Robinson hit .692 against Clemson on Aug. 25, 2018 – a span of 43 matches.
• Sunday was Robinson’s fifth match of the season with double-digit kills, but first time with double-digit kills in a three-set match.
• Along with her 11 kills against the Bulldogs, Mikayla Shields also recorded two service aces. That moves her up to ninth in the rally-scoring era for career aces, with 77.
• Shields also continued her climb up the career record book, passing Cally Plummer (1998-02) for fifth place in career attacks. She now has 3,169 for her career, and is one of two Gamecocks ever to have 3,000 career attacks and a hitting percentage above .280 (joining Lori Rowe).
• With 19 more digs Sunday, Addie Bryant finished the six total sets this weekend with 37 digs (6.17). In four SEC matches, Bryant is averaging 4.21 digs per set. 
• Before Sunday’s match, senior Courtney Koehler received a commemorative gold ball for reaching 3,000 career assists earlier this season. She is just the sixth Gamecock in program history to hit the milestone.
• Sunday was the team’s Dig Pink match, raising awareness for Breast Cancer research.

SCOUTING TEXAS A&M
Texas A&M is thriving in year two of head coach Laura Kuhn’s tenure, entering week three of SEC play at 10-4 and two five-set losses away from a perfect start to SEC play. The Aggies lost in five sets at No. 22 Missouri on Sunday and also came up short in a five-set road match at Tennessee, but otherwise have been stout in 2019, with strong non-conference wins over Dayton, Texas State and Oklahoma. Senior Hollann Hans remains one of the premier attackers in the nation, averaging 4.64 points per set (3rd in the SEC) with an efficient .258 hitting percentage to lead an offense that overall hit .256 so far this season. Running the show is one of the best attacking setters in the country, Camille Conner (1.75 kills, 9.50 assists per set). On defense, the Aggies excel at putting pressure on opponents with their serve, and rank fourth in the SEC with 2.44 blocks per set. Makena Patterson leads the conference and sits 18th nationally with 1.44 blocks per set, and three other Aggies boast 30 or more total blocks to date.

SCOUTING ARKANSAS
The Razorbacks look to extend a four-match win streak over the Gamecocks when the two sides meet Sunday, but Arkansas enters the week still looking for its first conference win of the season. Freshman Jillian Gillen leads an offense that lost top returning attacker Hayley Dirrigl to injury in the non-conference season, Gillen posts 3.41 kills per set but is also a volume hitter who averages over nine attacks per set. Another freshman, Maggie Cartwright, has stepped in for Dirrigl and ranks second on the team with 2.31 kills per set. The team’s defense has been a sticking point for Arkansas, the Razorbacks rank 12th in digs, 11th in blocks and 11th in opponent hitting percentage among SEC teams.

TRENDING TOPICS
In the last five matches…

• The Gamecocks are out-hitting opponents, .228 to .169. Claire Edwards has been the team’s most efficient attacker, committing just six attacking errors on 81 swings in the last five matches for a .407 percentage.
• The offense has been spread out, with four different hitters posting 30 or more kills in the span.
• The team has 24 service aces (1.22 per set), but have limited opponents to just 18 aces. Addie Bryant (.986) and Jess Vastine (.981) have been rock solid in serve receive defense, committing just three errors in 177 receptions combined.
• The team’s blocking numbers have soared, with 44 in the last five matches. Mikayla Robinson has contributed 1.33 blocks per set in that span (24 total).
• Production from the left pin has dropped, with Jess Vastine and Britt McLean combining to average 3.33 kills per set with a .093 hitting percentage.

EDWARDS ENJOYING STRONG SENIOR CAMPAIGN
Year four has started well for middle blocker Claire Edwards, who is on pace for a career year on offense and defense for South Carolina. Through 16 matches, Edwards already is averaging highs for points per set (2.57), aces (0.26), blocks (1.00) and hitting percentage (.379). Her efforts were recognized by the SEC on Sept. 9, when she earned Defensive Player of the Week honors from the conference after putting down 17 total blocks in 10 sets at the UCF Challenge tournament.

SHIELD BEARER
Last season, Mikayla Shields became the fifth junior in the program’s 47-year history to make it to 1,000 career kills in three seasons or less. Overall, she is 15th member of the program ever to reach 1,000 kills, and the fourth-fastest (making it in her 80th career game). Currently, Shields ranks fourth overall for career kills (with 1,325) in the overall program record book, 20th among active Division I attackers, and third among rally-scoring-era attackers.

It isn’t just her production that’s impressive, Shields is also in rarified air when it comes to efficiency. During the Gamecock Invitational tournament (Sept. 20-22), she passed 3,000 career attacks, something only six other members of the program have achieved. Despite the historic workload, Shields still maintains a career hitting percentage of .289, good for seventh in program history (with a minimum of 1,000 attacks). Among the six other hitters with over 3,000 attacks, only program legend Lori Rowe (1983-86) also ranks in the top ten for hitting percentage.

KOEHLER SETTING HER SIGHTS ON SC RECORDS
Senior Courtney Koehler has rocketed through the record book as she begins season four running the offense. Against Charlotte on Sept. 10, she surpassed Taylor Bruns’ record for most assists in the rally-scoring era (since 2001), and against High Point on Sept. 22 she passed 3,000 career assists. Only five other Gamecocks in the program’s 47-year history have reached 3,000. Scratching the top three marks from the sideout-scoring era will be a challenge, but Koehler is now 112 assists from jumping Jodi Thompson (1991-94) for the number five spot in the program’s all-time history.

HOME-COURT ADVANTAGE
The Carolina Volleyball Center has been one of the toughest venues in the country over the last three seasons. Of the program’s top ten crowds all time in the CVC, nine have come since 2016 and three of the top five came in 2018 alone. Last season, the Gamecocks went 11-2 in the CVC – its highest home win total since 2008. Through six home matches this season, the average attendance of 1,243 ranks 39th in the NCAA and sixth among SEC schools.

VASTINE GROWS INTO LARGER ROLE IN 2019
Junior Jess Vastine saw her role expand greatly in head coach Tom Mendoza’s first year leading the program, developing more into a six-rotation left side attacker. Now in her second year with the defined role, the Wittmann, Ariz. native has made another big jump in production across the board. Already with a new career high for service aces in a season, with 14, Vastine is also on pace for personal bests in kills and digs. Vastine also leads the team’s serve receive defense with 349 receptions and a .960 reception percentage.

REPLACING ACES WILL BE KEY FOR 2019
Despite bringing back all six position players for the fall, South Carolina will have to replace a key member of last year’s tournament team. Libero Aubrey Ezell graduated as the program’s third-ranked contributor for service aces, pitching in 212 during her four years on campus, including a career-high 75 last fall. Her career total was double that of any other member during the program’s rally-scoring era, and she guided 2018’s team to its highest combined ace total since 2006 (173). With her departure, the team is looking for who can help fill her shoes. Of the six starters returning this year (Edwards, Koehler, McLean, Robinson, Shields, Vastine), only Shields and Koehler have a career ace total above 60.

Through 16 matches, South Carolina is on the wrong side of both aces and errors. Entering Friday, the team has been out-aced 89-72 and committed 21 more errors on serve (152-131). Against Pitt on Aug. 31, the team recorded zero aces for the first time since Nov. 11, 2016 that the team went without an ace in a match – a span of 67 matches. It would also be shut out in the loss at Kentucky on Oct. 4.

SHIELDS NAMED TO SENIOR CLASS WATCH LIST
Mikayla Shields made the list of 30 NCAA women’s volleyball student-athletes who  were selected as candidates for the 2019 Senior CLASS Award, it was announced on Oct. 2. To be eligible for the award, a student-athlete must be a senior with notable achievements in four areas: community, classroom, character and competition. The candidates will be narrowed to 10 finalists midway through the regular season.

GAMECOCKS BOOST DEPTH WITH 2019 RECRUITS
With all six starters from the the team’s NCAA run in 2018 returning, head coach Tom Mendoza has been able to boost the team’s depth under less pressure to step in right away. The Gamecocks welcomed three scholarship players and three walk-ons for the fall, hailing from all corners of the U.S.

The team added help across the net, starting on the left side with McKenzie Moorman (Elmhurst, Ill.), moving to the middle with Kylee Stokes (Phoenix, Ariz.) and to the right with Holly Eastridge (Avon, Ind.). All three made the Senior Aces Top 150 list and will be competing for playing time straight away. Right side hitter Gabby Brown (Summerville, N.C.) is following in her sister Callie’s footsteps at Carolina, and will have a leg up after enrolling early and spending the spring semester in the gym training with the Gamecocks. Mendoza rounded out his class with two defensive specialists, Anna Holman (Murrieta, Calif.) and Camilla Covas (San Juan, Puerto Rico), who hope to solidify the ball control the same way that Lauren Bowers and Addie Bryant were able to do as first-year players in 2018.

PROGRAM GREAT CALLY PLUMMER NAMED TO 2019 HALL OF FAME CLASS
The University of South Carolina Athletics Hall of Fame class of 2019 was announced in July, and volleyball alumna Cally Plummer (1998-2002) made the nine-member class. She is the fourth member of the program to be honored, and one of just 187 members total in the Hall of Fame’s 52-year history.

Plummer is one of just four Gamecocks in program history to be a four-time All-SEC performer. As a right-side attacker, Plummer is still the program’s all time in career aces, and ranks fourth in career kills and fifth in career attacks. For her career she finished with 1,295 kills, 233 aces, 956 digs, and 270 blocks, and the Gamecocks made the NCAA tournament in all four of her seasons on the court.

The class will be inducted into the Hall of Fame on Thursday, October 17, at Colonial Life Arena, and recognized at the South Carolina-Florida football game on Saturday, October 19. Previous alumnae in the Hall of Fame are Ashley Edlund (1995-98), Heather Larkin (1994-97) and Shonda Walllace (Cole) (2003-06).

ALL TIME RECORDS

• South Carolina holds an 827-646 (.561) all-time record, dating back to 1973. The team’s 800th win of all time came on Aug. 25, 2018 against Clemson.
• The Gamecocks joined the SEC for volleyball in 1991, and have an all-time conference record of 195-273 (.417).
• In matches in the Carolina Volleyball Center, Carolina is 207-114 (.645) overall and 104-97 (.517) in SEC matches.
• Tom Mendoza became the program’s 13th head coach on Jan. 3, 2018. This is his fourth season overall as a head coach, with a career record of 77-34.