Volleyball Begins Spring Slate With Series at Alabama

TUSCALOOSA, ALA. – For the first time in program history, South Carolina volleyball will embark on a spring schedule, starting on Friday, Jan. 29 with a two-day series at Alabama (2-6 SEC). It will be the first of eight scheduled series against SEC opponents, which will span through March and into NCAA tournament play in April. The Gamecocks recorded a 5-3 record against conference foes in an abbreviated fall season. Friday’s 1 p.m. ET opener against the Crimson Tide airs nationally on the SEC Network, and Saturday’s 3 p.m. rematch will be on the SEC Network+ online stream.

SCOUTING ALABAMA
The Crimson Tide are 2-6 through fall play in year two under head coach Lindsey Devine. Despite returning four starters and its libero from 2019, Alabama has leaned on newcomers so far this season. Freshman Kendyl Reaugh pitches in 2.75 kills per set and transfers Abby Marjema (UC Irvine), Kennedy Muckelroy (FAU) rank first and third, respectively, in kills. Graduate transfer Riley Fisbeck (Texas) averages 9.56 assists per set as the team’s setter, and on defense another transfer, Madelyn St. Germain (UT-Arlington), anchors the defense with 3.59 digs per set and 177 serve receptions. On offense, Alabama’s kill numbers are strong but the efficiency was the issue in the fall. Despite boasting five attackers who averaged two or more kills per set, the team was out-hit .271 to .186. One key stat to watch entering the spring is net defense. Alabama allowed almost three times as many blocks to the opposition and rank last in the conference for blocks per set (1.11)

GAMECOCK VOLLEYBALL RETURNS TO THE NATIONAL POLLS
South Carolina earned the No. 15 ranking in the AVCA’s Nov. 4 coaches poll, and moved as high as 13th after wrapping up the fall schedule. The Nov. 4 poll was the program’s first appearance in the rankings since Dec. 2, 2002, earning the No. 24 spot in a season where it finished with a 23-7 record and made the second round of the NCAA tournament. On the current roster, four Gamecocks were born in the year 2002. The program’s highest ranking ever was 17th, which came on Oct. 1, 2001. While the fall ranking came in higher, the fall coaches poll ranked only the top 15 teams in the country based on the conferences competing – the ACC, Big 12, SEC, and Sun Belt. In the AVCA’s first spring poll, the Gamecocks were receiving votes in the full top-25 rankings.

QUOTABLE
Head Coach Tom Mendoza at the end of the team’s fall season…
“It’s been tough, but again it’s been tough on everyone. I think it’s really rewarding to see that work pay off and when they’re doing the right things you’d like to see that pay off for the young athletes that are you know are putting so much into it. Big picture, I like the direction we’re going. A lot of people outside our team thought this was going to be a rebuilding year for us, but the people around our group knew that we could be good. If we want to be a good program, we can’t make the NCAA Tournament one year and then drop in the standings the following year. We have to be good every year and that’s our job as coaches to make sure that our gym is filled with talent. Their job is as the student-athletes is to make sure that we’re carrying on the tradition and try to take a step forward each year.”

FALL NOTABLES

• Despite losing five of its seven starters from 2019, the Gamecocks picked up right where they left off and finished the fall portion of the 2020-21 schedule with a 5-3 record.
• The team’s fall highlights included road wins at Georgia and Tennessee, and an upset at home against No. 4 Florida to cap the fall. The win over the Gators was the first win in the series since 2006 and marked the highest-ranked opponent the Gamecocks have ever defeated.
• A successful fall saw the team rewarded with its first appearance in the national coaches poll since 2002. In the final AVCA poll, released on Nov. 25, South Carolina came in at No. 13.

SNAPPING A SIGNIFICANT STREAK
The fall slate ended on the highest note for the Gamecocks, who upset No. 4 Florida in five sets on Nov. 12. It broke an inauspicious streak, as the Gators had taken the previous 24 matches in the series – dating all the way back to 2006. South Carolina’s longest losing streak of all time spanned 16 years and 25 matches, coming against Georgia.

ROBINSON POISED FOR ALL-AMERICAN CAMPAIGN
Mikayla Robinson has always been one to let her game talk for her, and as she prepares for the start of her senior season, the conversation is growing on a national level. On Oct. 8, she made the nine-woman preseason All-SEC team, building off a career year in 2019 that culminated in her first All-Southeast Region Team honor from the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) and her second year in a row making the postseason All-SEC team. Before its cancellation due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Robinson had also earned a spot on the U.S. Women’s Volleyball Collegiate National Team’s gold roster, which was scheduled to train and compete side-by-side with the U.S. Women’s National Team ahead of the Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan.

Currently, Robinson is just 52 blocks shy of the program’s rally-scoring-era ecord for total blocks in a career and is already in the program’s top 10 for kills and points scored in the era (since 2001). Through the fall matches, her offense is at a career-high pace; she is averaging 2.83 kills per set with a hitting percentage of .335.

QUOTABLE
Head Coach Tom Mendoza on Mikayla Robinson…
“I can’t think of very many student-athletes I’ve worked with that have had the growth over time that Robbie has had. She’s been a leader from a production standpoint because she’s a really good volleyball player, but to see her grow into someone her teammates and coaches refer to as a leader is impressive and I’m happy for her. She would let other people take that lead in the past and take a backseat but now she’s taking ownership of the group and that’s exciting to see.”

REFILLING THE BOX SCORE IN 2020
The Gamecocks have a good deal of seniority to replace after turning over the 2019 roster into the 2020-21 campaign. Gone are three seniors who started in over 100 matches in their time at Carolina (Claire Edwards, Courtney Koehler and Mikayla Shields) as well as two-year contributors Addie Bryant and Brittany McLean and four-year letterwinner Alicia Starr. Statistically, South Carolina graduated 59 percent of its kills, 77 percent of its aces, 73 percent of its digs and 59 percent of its total points scored from 2019’s roster.

STATUS QUO IN THE CLASSROOM
While the fall schedule was far from normal on the court, the Gamecocks were business as usual when it came to academics. The group finished the semester with a combined 3.518 GPA in the fall, with five individuals earning 4.0 GPAs and five more breaking the 3.5 barrier to make the university’s Dean’s List. South Carolina is going on 10 consecutive seasons on the AVCA’s Team Academic Award list and have put double-digit student-athletes on the SEC’s Fall Academic Honor Roll for four years in a row.ß

GRADUATE DUO MAKING AN IMPACT FOR CAROLINA
With such a large graduating class for the Gamecocks in 2019, the coaching staff turned to a pair of graduate transfers in the signing period to add some veteran experience to a locker room that features 11 players in either their freshman or sophomore years. 

Mallory Dixon  spent four year with Wisconsin, appearing in 20 matches in her first three seasons before sitting out the fall of 2019. She had plenty of postseason experience in Madison, making deep runs in the tournament highlighted by reaching the championship in 2019 and the regional final in 2018. Dixon took on the back-row setting role and led the team with 6.45 assists per set and ranked second with 2.55 digs per set in the fall.

Kyla Manning moves to South Carolina after a stellar career at Coastal Carolina, and will carry on a family legacy as a Gamecock. Manning is the daughter of Barry Manning, who played in 121 games for the South Carolina men’s basketball team from 1989-92. In her three seasons as a Chanticleer, she totaled over 800 kills, 450 digs and 50 aces, and earned all-conference honors in 2018 and 2019. Her success has continued in the Garnet and Black,  as she ranked second on the team in kills (88),  third in digs (2.28 per set) and was perfect in 136 serve receptions in the fall.

FRESHMEN CLASS BOOSTS DEPTH
Eight newcomers, including six freshmen, joined the roster in the fall and provided an immediate lift. All six freshman saw playing time, with Riley Whitesides and Ellie Ruprich planting themselves in the starting lineup from opening day and leading the team in major categories (Whitesides in kills, Ruprich in blocks). Not only did the duo pace the team, but Ruprich also ranked third overall nationally in blocks per set and Whitesides finished fifth among NCAA freshmen in kills per set during the fall.

The coaching staff also has high hopes for fellow freshmen Caitlin Crawford, Kiune Fletcher and Janna Schlageter. All three were able to see the court in the fall, with both Crawford and Fletcher enjoying increased action as the eight-game portion wrapped up.

NOTHING SOPH-T ABOUT THEM
Despite the senior-laden 2019 roster, the Gamecocks were able to get key in-game reps to a big group of freshmen who are now prepping for a larger role going into their sophomore campaigns. Holly Eastridge came in as a front-row option on the right and proved to be a capable blocker and sneaky southpaw hitter in 2019. She played in 20 matches and totaled 48 kills and 21 blocks in that span. After a strong but abbreviated spring, she stepped into the lineup in the fall and ranked fourth on the team in kills and second in blocks.

The Gamecock coaches credit McKenzie Moorman‘s late season surge as a key to the team’s postseason berth, as the outside hitter averaged 3.14 kills per set over a two week span that led to five-straight wins spanning from Oct. 25 to Nov. 10. She stepped up big again in the team’s fall finale, hitting .444 with nine kills in the team’s upset of No. 4 Florida.

Camilla Covas and Kylee Stokes did not see as much time on the court in 2019, but both would impress the staff against high-level opponents during their freshmen campaigns. In the final five matches of the fall, Covas earned the starting libero role and averaged 3.95 digs per set with eight service aces and just one serve reception error on 103 attempts.

SERVICE (RECEPTION) WITH A SMILE
Despite a lineup that features four new starters and a new libero, South Carolina’s coaching staff has been pleased with the instant chemistry of its serve defense in the fall. The Gamecocks have five individuals who have 25 or more serve receptions through the eight fall matches, and that group has committed just 15 errors together in 519 total chances – a reception percentage of .971. Among that group are newcomers Riley Whitesides and Kyla Manning, who also play all six rotations and rank first and second on the team in kills, respectively.

KIUNE’S CRAZY JOURNEY TO COLUMBIA
The outbreak of the Coronavirus had an unintended effect on Kiune Fletcher‘s journey to becoming a Gamecock. Signing with the team in November out of Trinidad and Tobago, Fletcher found herself unable to come stateside to join her teammates on report day in August. The U.S. embassy on the island was closed due to the virus, and even after it reopened, flights leaving were few and far between. Fletcher was unable to join her teammates until the second week of September, just days before a NCAA deadline that would have ruled her ineligible to compete for the year.

Fletcher brings a unique story to the team. She follows in the footsteps of her cousin, Mikayla Shields, who told the coaching staff about her and recommended she come to a South Carolina summer camp while visiting family in the states. Fletcher is the youngest member of the Trinidad and Tobago national team, making the roster for the 2018 FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship in Japan and the 2019 Pan American Cup.

THOMPSON ENDS HER COLLEGE CAREER IN STYLE
Joining the team as a walk-on in 2018, Kaely Ann Thompson trained as a serve specialist for her first two seasons but found a new role in the fall of 2020. The Greenville, S.C. native stepped into a the team’s back-row setter position after starter Courtney Weber was put into COVID-19 contact-tracing quarantine just three games into the fall. Thompson totaled 3.81 assists and 1.31 digs per set in the three-rotation setting role, with her career capped by a memorable fall finale against No. 4 Florida. After celebrating her in a pregame senior ceremony, Thompson went out and had a career-high 31 assists with five digs in the team’s 3-2 win over the Gators – which snapped a 24-game losing streak to Florida. Thompson graduated in December with a degree in exercise science.

VASTINE ENDS HER CAREER ON THE BEACH
Senior Jess Vastine capped her time with the indoor in the fall, moving to her regular spring role with the beach volleyball team. Vastine is the first student-athlete at South Carolina to participate in indoor and beach volleyball for all four years on campus, totaling 96 matches played on the court and enters the spring with 61 career starts in the lineup for beach volleyball. The Wittman, Arizona native peaked as a junior, setting career highs in every major statistical category while appearing in all 114 of the team’s sets. With 209 kills and 228 digs in 2019, she is just the fourth different player in the last 10 years to crack 200 in both categories in a single season. She helped turn the program around after a coaching change following her freshman season, playing a pivotal role in the team’s back-to-back runs to the NCAA tournament.

WHEN THE GAMECOCKS WIN…

• The team is out-hitting the opposition .256 to .165. The left-side attack is the key with Kyla Manning and Riley Whitesides hitting .268 in wins with a combined total of 7.00 kills per set.
• Success behind the service line has been stark; in matches won, the Gamecocks have almost twice as many aces as their opponents (25-14) and average 1.39 aces per set.
• The back line of the defense has been effective in wins, averaging almost three more digs per set in wins compared to losses. Mallory Dixon‘s production personifies that different; she averages 3.00 digs per set in wins compared to 1.82 in losses.

WHEN THE GAMECOCKS LOSE…

• The defense is allowing opponents to hit .311 in the three losses losses. Under Coach Tom Mendoza, the team has won only three matches where it recorded a lower hitting percentage than its opponent.
• Opponents have exploited the serve game to an extreme degree in losses, averaging almost a full ace per set more (1.36 to 0.65) while committing about the same errors (26, compared to 25 for Carolina).
• The left side attack has scuffled in losses, with Manning and Whitesides combining for a .081 hitting percentage and 4.81 kills per set.
• Opponents only have three more total blocks than Carolina in the three Gamecock defeats, but South Carolina averages 3.18 unforced attacking errors per set in losses.

MENDOZA’S TRENDING TOPICS
In Head Coach Tom Mendoza’s tenure with the team…

• Home is where the heart is. The Gamecocks are 24-6 at the Carolina Volleyball Center in Mendoza’s first two seasons. The team had lost five or more home matches for nine consecutive seasons before 2018.
• September has been the team’s best month, combining for a 17-3 mark in the two seasons. The highlight came in 2018 with a perfect 9-0 record in September, the first Gamecock squad since 1983 to do so.
• South Carolina steps up big on Sundays, with a combined 15-4 record on that day of the week.
• Always a wise strategy to start fast, the Gamecocks are 38-4 when winning the first set of a match.
• In five-set matches, the team holds an 12-3 record.
• The offense has out-hit opponents 44 times and have lost just two times when recording a higher hitting percentage.
• Aces have been a key to victory; in the two seasons under Mendoza, the Gamecocks are 34-4 when matching or surpassing the opposition in aces. It takes high risk to earn aces, but even in games where it committed more service errors, the Gamecocks still own a 21-18 record.
• Finding success away from home is trending up. Under Mendoza, the Gamecocks are 21-19 in road or neutral matches. In the five seasons prior to that, they were just 30-46 (.395). In 2019 the team’s combined record away from home was 10-9, the first time being over .500 away from home in back-to-back seasons since 2001-02.

ALL TIME RECORDS

• South Carolina holds an 842-655 (.562) all-time record, dating back to 1973. The team’s 800th win came on Aug. 25, 2018 against Clemson.
• The Gamecocks joined the SEC for volleyball in 1991, and have an all-time conference record of 209-280 (.427). The 200th SEC win came on Nov. 8, 2019 at Mississippi State.
• In matches in the Carolina Volleyball Center, Carolina is 214-117 (.647) overall (.646) and 111-100 (.526) in SEC matches. The CVC’s 200th win came on Nov. 16, 2018 against Ole Miss.
• Tom Mendoza became the program’s 13th head coach on Jan. 3, 2018. This is his fifth season overall as a head coach, with a career record of 92-43 and a record of 45-25 at South Carolina. He has led his teams to the NCAA tournament in all four years as a head coach.