Crucial Home Weekend Awaits Volleyball

COLUMBIA, S.C. – Fresh off their bye week, Gamecock volleyball is set up for a key conference weekend at home. South Carolina (11-8, 3-4 SEC) hosts Tennessee (9-9, 3-5 SEC) on Friday night at 7 p.m. and Alabama at 1 p.m. Sunday. Friday’s match will air on the SEC Network+, with Derek Scott and Paul MacDonald on the call; Sunday’s match airs nationally on ESPNU with Courtney Lyle and Jenny Hazelwood calling the showdown with Alabama.

General single-game tickets are on sale, $5 for adults and $3 for youth. Fans can also purchase season tickets at the General Admission rate for adults ($25) or youth age 17 and under ($10), or the VIP season ticket. Contact the South Carolina Ticket Office at 800-4SC-FANS (800-472-3267) or CLICK THIS LINK for more information. Friday’s match will have a $3 concession special and facepainting for fans, and Sunday will be a First Responder’s match; any first responder bringing their ID badge can receive free admission for themselves and a guest.

A reminder, students attending matches at the Carolina Volleyball Center should note that their entrance to the facility has changed for 2019. Instead of entering through the Park Street side of the gym, students should now enter at the top of the building, located by the Blossom and Assembly Street intersection. Ticket holders should still plan to enter via the Park Street entrance.

Please refer to the PARKING MAP for a bird’s-eye view of the Carolina Volleyball Center and surrounding areas.

SCOUTING TENNESSEE
Tennessee stands at 9-9 overall and 3-5 in conference play going into Friday night. The Volunteers are coming off a tough weekend of top-25 matches, losing at home to No. 16 Kentucky and on the road at No. 25 Missouri. The offense is powered by senior Tessa Grubbs, who averages 4.06 kills per set with an efficient .250 hitting percentage.  In conference play, the team has also seen a boost in production from sophomore Lily Felts and freshman Danielle Mahaffey, who combine for 4.85 kills per set in the team’s eight SEC games. Felts, who made the All-Freshman team for the SEC last season, has 11 or more kills in five of the last seven matches in conference play, after going the previous 11 matches to start the season without reaching double figures once. On defense, libero Madison Coulter is the engine that gets the team rolling, averaging 4.21 digs per set with a .960 percentage in serve reception. At the net, senior Alyssa Andreno anchors the block with 1.04 per set.

SCOUTING ALABAMA
Alabama is 11-7 overall and 3-4 in the SEC through the first four weeks of conference play, coming off an 0-2 weekend with losses at LSU and home against No. 16 Kentucky most recently. The Crimson Tide are under the direction of first-year head coach Lindsey Devine, who came to the program after 16 seasons with East Tennessee State. The team returned four starter from last season’s 20-win campaign, most notably pin hitters Doris Carter and Ginger Perinar, and middle blocker Hayley McSparin. The trio continues to lead the team, but freshman middle Alyiah Wells has been a key addition to the roster. Her 2.26 kills per set ranks third on the team, but she leads Alabama in both hitting percentage (.342) and blocks (67.0) entering the week. The team’s defense has benefited from a breakout year for junior libero Kaylee Thomas, who leads the team with 4.34 digs per set and a .959 serve reception percentage.

TRENDING TOPICS
In the last five matches…

• The Gamecocks have been out-hit, .240 to .200, and average one fewer kill per set than opponents. Mikayla Robinson has been the team’s most efficient attacker, averaging 2.53 kills/set with a .337 hitting percentage.
• The offense has been spread out, with five different hitters posting 25 or more kills in the span.
• The team has 20 service aces (1.18 per set), but have also limited opponents to just 23 aces. Addie Bryant (.983) and Jess Vastine (.944) have been rock solid in serve receive defense, committing just seven errors in 206 receptions combined.
• Bryant has been equally impressive on the back line of the defense, averaging 5.53 digs per set in the last five matches. She highlighted this recent stretch with 35 digs in the win at Arkansas (10/13).
• The team’s blocking numbers have been strong, with 42 in the last five matches. Mikayla Robinson has contributed 1.35 blocks per set in that span (23 total), including a career-high 13 against Arkansas (10/13).

BRYANT’S CAREER DAY HIGHLIGHTS SEC HOT STREAK
Addie Bryant’s arrival to South Carolina last season was a major part in the team’s turn-around performance in 2018, and now as the team’s full-time libero, the senior from San Antonio, Texas is blossoming. Her 35 digs against the Razorbacks on Oct. 13 in the third-highest total in the program’s 47-year history, behind Hannah Lawing (38 vs. Mississippi St., 11/13/2010), Sarah Cline (36 vs. Arkansas, 11/2/2007) and Jodi Thompson (36 vs. Louisiana Tech, 9/19/1992). While the performance at Arkansas was no doubt her most memorable match as a Gamecock, it also represents a big jump she has made in SEC play. Bryant averaged 3.18 digs per set with a .958 serve reception percentage in non-conference play, but in her six conference matches she is at 4.64 and .980, respectively.

“She came to us with a lot of experience, those two years of junior college I think were a big benefit for her but in some ways we’re sad we only get her for only two years,” head coach Tom Mendoza said, “because I think she’s still learning how to be successful at this level and how to be elite and I think she’s gone from just playing her role to being one of our difference-makers.”

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.

EDWARDS ENJOYING STRONG SENIOR CAMPAIGN
Year four has been a good one so far for middle blocker Claire Edwards, who is on pace for a career year on offense and defense for South Carolina. Through 19 matches, Edwards already is averaging highs for points per set (2.43), aces (15), blocks (0.99) and hitting percentage (.332). 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 1,349) in the overall program record book, 21st among all active Division I attackers, and third among rally-scoring-era attackers.

It isn’t just her production that’s impressive, Shields is also in rare company when it comes to efficiency. She passed 3,000 career attacks earlier this season, something only six other members of the program have achieved. Despite the workload, Shields still maintains a career hitting percentage of .287, good for seventh in program history (minimum 1,000 attacks). Among the six others 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 60 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.

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 single-season highs for service aces (19), attacks (456) and kills (147), Vastine is also on pace for personal bests in digs. Vastine also leads the team’s serve receive defense with 398 receptions and a .955 reception percentage.

SERVING GAME REMAINS FOCAL POINT FOR 2019
Despite bringing back all six position players for the fall, South Carolina has 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 currently have a career ace total above 60.

After a slow start to the season, the team has stabilized both its serve and serve reception games as confere play enters week four. In non-conference play, the team committed 115 service errors (2.56 per set) and yielded 1.67 aces per set to opponents. Through six SEC matches, the team is still committing a health amount of errors, but have jumped to a higher aces per set average and have limited opponents to 32 aces in 25 sets played.

WHEN THE GAMECOCKS WIN…

• The team is out-hitting the opposition .284 to .152, and its defense holds opponents to more than three kills per set less than in losses (10.8 vs. 14.0).
• Taking risks in the serve game have paid early dividends; in matches where the team commits an equal or greater amount of service errors, its record is 9-4. The team averages almost a full ace per set more than in losses (1.56 to 0.74).
• Mikayla Shields’ kill totals are somewhat comparable win (3.34) or lose (3.15), but her efficiency increases considerably in wins. She has hit .226 in the team’s eight losses compared to .331 in the 11 wins.

WHEN THE GAMECOCKS LOSE…

• The defense is allowing opponents to hit .281 in losses. Dating back to last season, the team is 29-2 when out-hitting its opponents, 2-14 when it does not.
• Opponents have exploited the serve game to an extreme degree in losses, with 30 more total aces than Carolina and over a full ace per set more (1.85 to 0.74) while committing the same number of errors (66). 
• The Gamecocks have also struggled to put pressure on opponents behind the service line in losses, recording just 20 aces total in seven losses with an average of 3.30 service errors per ace.
• The left side attack has scuffled in losses, with Jess Vastine and Britt McLean combining for a .105 hitting percentage and 3.59 kills per set.

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
Volleyball alumna Cally Plummer (1998-2002) was inducted as part of the nine-member class for the 2019 University of South Carolina Athletics Hall of Fame on Thursday, Oct. 17. 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 fifth in career kills and sixth 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. Previous alumnae in the Hall of Fame are Ashley Edlund (1995-98), Heather Larkin (1994-97) and Shonda Wallace (Cole) (2003-06).

ALL TIME RECORDS

• South Carolina holds an 828-648 (.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 196-275 (.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 78-36.