No. 20 Gators Take Series Opener, 3-0

 GAINESVILLE, FLA. – South Carolina (14-12, 6-10 SEC) dropped its weekend series opener at No. 20 Florida (19-6, 13-2 SEC) on Saturday, losing in three sets to a red-hot Gator attack. Kyla Manning had one of her strongest matches of the year, leading all hitters with 18 kills, but the Gamecock defense had no answers for the SEC’s No. 2-rated offense.
 
SET ONE: Florida’s offense carried it to a 25-14 win in the opening set, out-hitting South Carolina .652 to .133 with a 17-10 advantage in kills. Kyla Manning had a strong set, leading the team with four kills on nine errorless swings, but Florida’s blockers were able to shut down the Gamecocks’ rally potential and led wire-to-wire.
 
SET TWO: South Carolina came out strong in set two, using a 4-0 run to take a early 9-3 lead and forced a quick timeout from Florida. Manning stayed locked in, recording five kills on her first eight swings of the second and turned back a Florida attack for a big solo block to push the team to a 15-12 lead. The Gators fought back, though, using a 5-0 run from there to push out to a 17-15 lead. South Carolina was able to draw even again at 17, but Florida scored four of the next five points and pulled away for a 25-22 win and a 2-0 lead in the match.
 
SET THREE: The Gamecocks faced their same issues slowing down the Gator offense in the third, Florida finished with a game-high 22 kills and hit .625 in a 25-16 final to close the match. South Carolina had its best set of the match on offense, hitting .344, but just could not find the solution to the home side’s attack. Manning was outstanding yet again, with seven kills in the set to push her to 18 overall, but the relentless Gators again would not trail in the game.
 
NOTABLE

• Kyla Manning’s 18 kills are the most for a three-set match by any Gamecock this season and is the third-highest total for the team in a match of any length. The graduate student now has 10 games with 15 or more kills this season, seven in SEC play alone.
• Lauren McCutcheon ranked second on the team with seven kills and a .333 hitting percentage. It’s her first match hitting over .300 since Oct. 23 vs. Alabama.
• Ellie Ruprich collected her 26^th solo block of the season, moving her up to second for most in a single season in the rally scoring era (since 2001). She also moved up a spot in the program’s career record book for the category; her 41 career solo blocks already rank the sophomore sixth in the rally scoring era.
• Florida’s .454 hitting percentage for the match is the highest by any Gamecock opponent since Nov. 26, 2014, when the Gators hit .450.

UP NEXT
South Carolina plays its final road contest of the season tomorrow with a rematch against the Gators. First serve is set for 2 p.m. and the match can be watched nationally on the SEC Network.