Gamecocks Split Opening Weekend With Sunday Road Loss

ATHENS, GA. – South Carolina volleyball closed its opening weekend of the season with a four-set loss at Georgia (1-1) Sunday afternoon, 21-25, 25-19, 25-23, 25-21. The Gamecocks (1-1) were unable to slow down Bulldog attacker Amber Stivrins, who accounted for 26 of her team’s 60 total kills in the match. The Gamecocks had a well-rounded attack, with four hitters recording double-digit kills. Mikayla Robinson led the offense with a .455 hitting percentage and 12 kills, Ellie Ruprich recorded her first collegiate double-double with 10 kills and 10 blocks.
 
SET ONE: The match opened with a similar story to how Saturday’s match finished – with plenty of back-and-forth action that the Gamecocks were able to secure in the end. No team led by more than three points until the final score of 25-21, and four lead changes and eight ties built the drama. After taking the lead back from Georgia at 16-15, the Gamecocks would not trail again but needed a pair of Bulldog attack errors late to push a 21-20 advantage out to the 25-21 final margin. Kyla Manning led the team with five kills and the South Carolina offense hit a clean .406 combined in the set.
 
SET TWO: Georgia ran out to its largest lead of the weekend to kick off game two, forcing the Gamecocks into an early timeout behind a 7-3 advantage. A trio of unforced errors from Georgia and kills from Manning, Ruprich and Mikayla Robinson out of the timeout sparked what ended as a 9-3 run to flip the scoreboard. The Bulldogs clawed back ahead behind its serve game, keeping the Gamecocks on their heels with two of their four total set aces in a 5-0 run that broke a 15-all tie and gave the home team a lead it would not relinquish. Offensive miscues stunted Carolina’s final comeback attempt, as the Gamecocks handed Georgia five of its final 10 points in the set on attack errors.
 
SET THREE: Behind a renewed effort in the serve receive game, South Carolina’s offense clicked back into focus and built the team an early 16-10 lead. The net defense remained resolute, accounting for four blocks in those 16 points. Georgia ran off five of the next six points after calling a timeout at 16-10. The Gamecocks pushed ahead to 22-18, but then gave up three kills and back-to-back aces to Georgia that brought the home side back into the lead at 23-22. A kill from Holly Eastridge ended the run, but Georgia scored the final two points in a 25-23 final.
 
SET FOUR: Facing its first must-win set of the season, South Carolina found itself on the wrong side of a shootout early, falling behind 15-10 with Georgia hitting a scorching .786 with 11 kills on just 14 swings to open the set. The Gamecocks could get no closer than three points the rest of the way in the 25-21 final.
 
NOTABLE

• Sunday was the team’s first loss after winning the opening set since Sept. 27 of last season, also versus Georgia. The Gamecocks had won 11 matches in a row when taking the opening game.
• After recording its 11^th block of the match to take a 10-4 lead in the third set, South Carolina’s blockers accounted for just three more the rest of the way. Georgia committed just six unforced attacking errors in the match, out-hitting the Gamecocks .315 to .285.
• Ruprich’s match-high 10 blocks marks the third year in a row that a Gamecock posted double-digit blocks in a match against Georgia. In the last five seasons, South Carolina has four different individuals reach double-digit blocks in a game. The freshman finished her first weekend with 19 total blocks in seven sets.
• Georgia’s vaunted serve game proved to be the x-factor Sunday. The Bulldogs totaled 11 aces in the four sets, compared to just two in Saturday’s match.

UP NEXT
South Carolina has a bye week coming up, then will open the home portion of the fall schedule with a midweek doubleheader against Auburn Oct. 28-29. Wednesday’s game will air nationally on SEC Network at 8 p.m. and Thursday will be on the SEC Network+ with a 4:30 p.m. first serve.