Volleyball Drops Road Match at Arkansas
FAYETTEVILLE, ARK. – South Carolina volleyball lost in three sets at Arkansas (16-7, 6-5 SEC) Friday night. The Gamecocks (13-8, 4-6) had a season-low output offensively, hitting .073 with 25 kills.
1st SET: South Carolina scored the game’s first four points, but the Razorbacks answered back strong with an early 8-0 lead to take the lead back for good in a 25-13 win. Sparked by a pair of blocks, the Razorbacks turned a 6-3 Gamecock lead into an 11-6 advantage and would not look back, out-hitting Carolina .519 to .034 thanks to a 17-7 advantage in digs and nearly tripled up the Gamecocks with a 17-6 kill advantage. Arkansas pin hitter Olivia Ruy was the key contributor, converting all nine swings into kills for the home side.
2nd SET: Arkansas kept rolling in the second, holding the Gamecocks to single-digit kills and a sub-.100 hitting percentage again in a 25-16 win and 2-0 set advantage. South Carolina saw an uptick in its defense, going for 16 digs after just seven in set one, but the Razorback offense rolled through for 18 kills and a .366 hitting percentage and led wire-to-wire.
3rd SET: The third set would be a battle, featuring 13 ties and three lead changes before Arkansas closed the match with a 25-23 victory. Oby Anadi provided the team a boost on defense, she recorded back-to-back blocks to break up a 14-all tie and the Gamecocks would force the first called timeout of the set after pushing ahead 19-16 thanks to an Elizabeth McElveen service ace. Arkansas pushed back out of its timeout, scoring six of the next seven points to take the lead back for good in a 25-23 final.
NOTABLE
- South Carolina hit a season-low .073 with 25 kills, the lowest kill total since Oct. 29 2023 against LSU. The .073 hitting percentage is the lowest by the Gamecocks since their last trip to Fayetteville, on Sept. 22, 2023 (.018).
- Arkansas’ Olivia Ruy recorded a kill on each of her first 13 swings. She entered Friday with a single-game career high of 14 kills but surpassed that mid-way through the second set and finished the match with 17.
- The Razorbacks are the top-ranked team in the SEC for digs and flexed that muscle on Friday, out-digging the Gamecocks 66-43. It is the second-highest total by a Gamecock opponent so far this season, across any length of match.
- Alayna Johnson finished with a season-high 14 digs but was held without a kill until her 16th attack, coming late in the third set.
- Victoria Harris led the team with 15 digs, it is the third time this season that the freshman libero has 15 or more digs in a three-set match.
- Riley Whitesides led the offense with 12 kills, her season total of 314 pushes her into the top 20 for most in the rally scoring era with six games remaining.
UP NEXT: The Gamecocks hit the road north to Missouri, taking on the SEC leaders on Sunday at 6:30 p.m. ET. The Tigers are entering the weekend at 17-5, after an upset win against No. 9 Texas last week and a Wednesday four-set win over Georgia that ran its SEC win streak to eight games. The Tigers have yet to lose at home this fall and are tied with Kentucky for the top spot in the SEC standings.
