Ruprich Reaches 500 Career Blocks in Sunday Sweep of Tennessee
COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina volleyball was able to celebrate an important win and a historic milestone in a Sunday sweep of Tennessee (10-9, 4-5 SEC). The Gamecocks (13-7, 4-5 SEC) were not only able to end their home stand with a victory, they also saw graduate middle blocker Ellie Ruprich collect two of the biggest stuffs of her career.
The Michigan native took sole possession of the rally scoring era record for career total blocks in the first set, then became the third woman in program history and first since 1989 to reach 500 career blocks after a set-clinching stop in set two.
1st SET: South Carolina was clicking from the opening moments of the match and rode a long serving run by freshman Victoria Harris to a 25-12 win. The Volunteers were forced into an early timeout after a solo block from Alayna Johnson made it 8-4 in favor of the home side. Johnson would power the offense as well in the opening game, putting away six kills compared to Tennessee’s seven as a team. The big move came out of a 14-11 score, Harris’ tough service yielded a 10-0 scoring run to put a pin in the Vols. South Carolina hit .355 as a team with three different players putting down three or more kills, Tennessee finished the set with more attacking errors (8) than kills (7).
2nd SET: Both sides were swinging away in set two, but it would be service errors for Tennessee that were key in a 29-27 victory for South Carolina. The Gamecocks held a 15-14 lead at the first break of the set, and from that point on, neither team would score more than two points consecutively. The Gamecocks had the first set-point opportunity after a Ruprich block made it a 24-23 score, but Tennessee scored the next two points to flip the set opportunity to its favor. The visitors were unable to take advantage, though, committing what would be their seventh serving error of the set in what would be their only chance at clinching the win. Out of a 27-all tie, Riley Whitesides put away her seventh kill of the set for the lead and Tireh Smith and Ruprich teamed up for the clinching block the following point.
3rd SET: The final game would be almost completely different from the second, the two teams opted to trade off multi-point runs until late in the set, won 25-23 by South Carolina. The Gamecocks opened on a 7-2 run, then the Vols answered with seven straight points to take back the lead. The next five would go for Carolina, thanks in large part to two service aces by Whitesides, but Tennessee pushed back again and finally was able to retake the lead at 18-17 after a 4-0 run. Once both sides reached the 20-point mark, the game resorted back to side-out defense and point trading but service errors reared their ugly head again for Tennessee in a critical moment. Out of a 23-23 score, the Vols committed their 13th error of the day behind the service line and South Carolina clinched the match with a block from Oby Anadi and Riley Whitesides.
NOTABLE
- After Kentucky dominated behind the service line in a Friday win over the Gamecocks, Sunday would see the script flipped. South Carolina enjoyed a 5-1 advantage in aces, but even more importantly, committed seven fewer errors behind the line. Tennessee entered the day averaging 1.68 aces per set, fifth-most in the SEC, but ended with just one.
- Ellie Ruprich surpassed Mikayla Robinson for the rally-scoring era record for career blocks in set one, recording her 497th, and joined Gamecock greats Stephanie Pflughaupt (1986-89) and Lori Rowe (1983-86) in the 500-blocks club on the set-winning point at 29-27 in set two.
- The Gamecock defense was able to hold Tennessee pin Nina Cajic to just 10 kills and an .097 hitting percentage over 31 swings; Cajic entered Sunday ranked fifth in the SEC for kills per set, at 4.35.
- As a team, Tennessee entered the weekend with a .289 hitting percentage, third-highest in the SEC. South Carolina held it to just a .131 percentage on Sunday
- Along with 12 kills, Riley Whitesides added in a pair of service aces in the win. She now has 95 for her career, tying her with Megan Laughlin (2007-10) for fourth-most in the rally scoring era. She is five aces away from becoming just the second Gamecock in the modern scoring format to reach 100 aces.
- While the Kentucky loss dropped the Gamecocks to 0-4 on Fridays during SEC play, the team is conversely 4-0 on Sundays in conference action.
QUOTABLE: ELLIE RUPRICH
QUOTABLE: TOM MENDOZA
UP NEXT: South Carolina’s five-game homestand is a wrap, next up is a five-game road swing through the SEC. First up is a weekend trip across the Midwest, starting on Nov. 8 at 8 p.m. ET at Arkansas with a 6:30 p.m. ET match at Missouri to follow on Sunday.
