Women's Volleyball . November 12, 2024

Volleyball Preps for Midweek Match at LSU

BATON ROUGE, LA. – South Carolina volleyball faces just one opponent in week eight of SEC play, traveling to LSU for a midweek match on Wednesday, Nov. 13. It is the halfway point in a five-game stretch of road games in November. The Gamecocks (13-9, 4-7) aim to break up a six-game losing streak on the road in this series, dating back to 2021. Three have gone to five sets, three have been Tiger sweeps. South Carolina has won in Baton Rouge just once in the last 20 years, coming in three sets in 2016. First serve on Wednesday night is set for 8 p.m. ET with a broadcast on the SEC Network+.

SCOUTING THE TIGERS
LSU has battled through a similar schedule this fall and heads into Wednesday night with a 13-10 mark and stands just a half game above South Carolina with a 5-7 SEC record. The Tigers have leaned hard on the arm of sophomore Jurnee Robinson, who leads the conference with almost 12 attacks per set and stands eighth in the nation with 4.91 kills per set. Her average per set is more than the next two closest teammates, Lainee Pyles and Angelina Lee, combined. Defensively, LSU has five individuals in triple digits for digs, led by Aly Kirkhoff’s 266, and the middle combination of Angelina Lee and Jessica Jones have had a hand in 165 of the team’s 181 total blocks so far this fall.

WEEK ELEVEN NOTABLES

South Carolina hit a season-low .073 with 25 kills at Arkansas on Friday, 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.
Missouri entered Sunday with one of the best offenses in the nation, ranking 1st in Division I for kills per set (14.75), fifth for hitting percentage (.299) and 20th for service aces per set (1.96).
South Carolina had nine service errors in the first two sets, but it was less about the total and more about timing. The Gamecocks committed eight of those nine errors immediately after siding out, limiting the team’s ability to string points together.
The team did not record its first service ace until it was 20-15 in the third set, by Oby Anadi. It is her fourth career ace and first since 2022.
Victoria Harris had her second consecutive 15-dig game, her 11th for the season. The freshman surpassed 300 digs this season and moves into the top 20 for most in a single season for the rally scoring era.
The Gamecocks did not record a block until it was a 21-17 lead for Missouri in the third set. The defense finished with just the one block, the fewest in a match since Oct. 30, 2015 against Florida.
Missouri is the sixth opponent in SEC play to reach double-digit blocks against the Gamecocks. South Carolina has four double-digit blocking games for the season.
The offense failed to have an attacker reach double-digit kills for the first time since the season opener against Kansas. Riley Whitesides and Alayna Johnson shared the team lead with nine apiece.

RUPRICH REACHES ANOTHER MAJOR MILESTONE
Graduate student Ellie Ruprich joined one of the most exclusive clubs in program history on Sunday, Nov. 3, reaching 500 career blocks after recording four in the three-set win over Tennessee. The Beverly Hills, Michigan native passed Mikayla Robinson (496 blocks from 2017-21) for the rally-scoring era record in career blocks in set one against the Lady Vols, then reached 500 with a set-clinching stuff in a 29-27 victory in set two.

The last Gamecock to reach 500 blocks was Stephanie Pflughaupt (1986-89) during the 1988 season. She and Lori Rowe (641 blocks from 1983-86) were the only two members of the 500-blocks club prior to Ruprich. Currently, across all three divisions in NCAA volleyball, Ruprich is one of only 13 women who have reached 500 total blocks. Among Power Four conference athletes, she is one of six, joining CC Crawford (Wisconsin), Phoebe Awoleye (Minnesota), Raven Colvin (Purdue), Taylor Trammell (Penn St.), and Leyla Blackwell (Nebraska).

Diving further into the numbers, Ruprich ranks second among all current Division I athletes in solo blocks, with 116. She has either led or tied for the team lead in blocks in 63 of her 127 career games played and has five or more blocks in 44 games.

TRENDING TOPICS
Over the last five matches…

Riley Whitesides leads the offense with 61 kills in the five games (3.81/set), shouldering a heavy workload on the left pin. Her 199 total attacks are 80 more than anyone else on the team and accounts for 37 percent of the team’s total attacks.
The offense is hitting just .158 in the last five games; no attacker with 15 or more kills has a hitting percentage higher than .220.
Opponents hold a 26-18 advantage in service aces over these last five games, thanks in large part to 12-1 disparity in the loss to Kentucky.
Opponents have had success at the net defensively, out-blocking the Gamecocks 49-32 overall and averaging over three blocks per set, with notable disparities against Auburn (15.5-7) and Missouri (11-1).

WELL RECEIVED
The team’s serve reception defense has been a bright spot for the season, coming into this week ranked second in the SEC for fewest service aces allowed. The team is benefitting from a consistent trio of passers and each have performed admirably. Left side pins Riley Whitesides (444 receptions) and Alayna Johnson (506) combine to account for 69 percent of the team’s total receptions to date, with the two being aced 50 times in 950 total serves. For her career, Whitesides has the most serve receptions in the program’s rally-scoring era – currently with 2,581 – and has a career reception percentage of .950. Freshman libero Victoria Harris (280) accounts for the next-closest total this fall, has allowed nine aces through the first 22 games.

The passing efficiency has been a boon to the offense and improves on an uncharacteristic 2023 season. The Gamecocks allowed 1.58 aces per set to opponents last fall, by far the most allowed in head coach Tom Mendoza’s tenure (since 2018). Heading into Wednesday, the aces per set allowed average is down to 1.13.

COMPARING WINS AND LOSSES

The service line has made all the difference this season, the team is 12-3 when matching or surpassing opponents in aces but are 0-7 when being out-aced. It isn’t just about aces, playing mistake-free behind the line is also key. Opponents have 56 aces and 72 errors in nine Gamecock losses, but just 29 aces and 135 errors in 13 Gamecock wins.
A diverse offense has proven key. In seven losses, the trio of Alayna Johnson, Tireh Smith and Oby Anadi combine for 5.79 kills per set and a .154 hitting percentage. In 13 wins, that number jumps to 7.48 kills and a .313 hitting percentage.
While the output of Riley Whitesides has remained steady in wins (4.57 kills per set) and losses (3.94/set), her efficiency is noticeable. In wins, she hits .296 but drops down to .153 in losses.
A strong start has been key, the team is 12-0 when winning the first set but is just 1-8 when losing it. Before overcoming a first-set loss to beat Oklahoma on Oct. 20, the Gamecocks had lost 18 games in a row when dropping set one.
Opponents are doubling up the Gamecocks in blocks across the nine losses, with 112 total blocks compared to just 55 for South Carolina.
With the team’s blocking numbers down from year’s passed, the back line of the defense has been more important than ever. When finishing with more digs, the Gamecocks are 8-1.

BE YOUR BEST BY BEATING YOUR BEST
For as big of a jump as Riley Whitesides has enjoyed this fall, a handful of her teammates have also racked up a number of new personal bests with seven games remaining on the schedule. Junior Alayna Johnson surpassed her career high for kills in a season during the Oklahoma win on Oct. 20, needing seven fewer games to reach her 2023 total of 166. She also has doubled up her service ace total from 2023 (10) to 2024 (21) and passed her single-season dig high on Oct. 11 at Georgia in 10 fewer games than she needed in 2023.

Two second-year contributors have also been key. Tireh Smith went from nine kills over eight games in 2023 to 137 so far this fall. Liz McElveen expanded her role from a serving sub as a freshman in 2023 to a back-row defensive specialist this season, she currently ranks third on the team in service aces and fourth in digs.

MENDOZA REACHES 100
The win over No. 19 Florida on Oct. 13 was head coach Tom Mendoza’s 100th at the helm of South Carolina. He is the fourth coach in program history to reach the century mark, joining Kim Williams (226 wins from 1993-04), Bonnie Kenny (171, 1984-92) and Scott Swanson (101, 2011-17). Of the 12 coaches in the program’s 51-year history, Mendoza ranks second in conference wins, fourth in road wins and first in wins over ranked opponents.

KEEPING THE STREAK ALIVE
The victory over No. 19 Florida on Sunday, Oct. 13 marked the seventh season in a row where South Carolina defeated a ranked opponent, extending the longest streak since joining the SEC in 1991. The Gamecocks have 10 wins over ranked opponents since head coach Tom Mendoza was hired in 2018. The program had just nine ranked wins total in the 27 seasons prior to his arrival (1991-2017). Prior to the win in Gainesville, the Gamecocks had not won a true road match against a nationally ranked opponent since Sept. 14, 2003 (#14 Notre Dame, 3-1). The team had never swept a ranked opponent in a true road match in the SEC era (since 1991) before Oct. 13.

DOUBLE TROUBLE
Few teams in the country can match the career production of Carolina’s middle blockers Oby Anadi and Ellie Ruprich. The two entered 2024 with over 700 combined blocks. Last fall, they became the first pair of Gamecocks to record 100+ total blocks in back-to-back seasons since 1995 (Heather Larkin and DeeDee Fortman) and 1996 (Larkin and Lori Drost). Going back to the earliest available statistics (1983), the program had never seen the same two individuals surpass 100 blocks in successive seasons.

SAVING THE DRAMA
For better or worse, South Carolina has had an efficient fall so far. The team has only played beyond three sets eight times in 23 games and are at 75 sets played with five games remaining in the regular season. Outside of the adjusted 2020-21 season, the fewest sets played in a single season by the Gamecocks is 92, over the 26-game 2001 season. So far this season, the team is 8-6 in three-set matches, 5-2 in four-set matches and lost its lone five-set match at Georgia on Oct 11. It was 14th game of the season when South Carolina finally went to five sets, the latest into a season the Gamecocks have played before going the distance since at least 1983 (the first season where fully vetted record-keeping is available).

SETTING THE SCENE
The team carries three setters on the roster for 2024, bringing back junior Kimmie Thompson and sophomore Sydney Floyd and adding in Towson transfer Sarah Jordan, but the team did lose Claire Wilson to a medical retirement. Jordan had success and experience running both a single-setter and two-setter offense during her career at Towson, totaling 1,500 assists, 400 digs and 45 service aces in 56 games played with the Tigers.

Entering the week, Jordan is averaging 9.49 assists per set, ranking 9th in the SEC. The Gamecocks were looking to improve the offense’s connection after back-to-back seasons flirting with a .200 team hitting percentage – the lowest two so far under head coach Tom Mendoza. Entering Wednesday, the team has a .227 hitting percentage.

A VICTORIOUS RETURN
She might have played high school volleyball just down the road from the Carolina Volleyball Center, but freshman Victoria Harris has taken the long way to collegiate volleyball. A standout libero at Cardinal Newman School, about 10 miles to the northeast of downtown Columbia, Harris had to overcome two serious injuries to make it to the next phase of her volleyball career. In September 2022, she fractured her hip during a game after a teammate landed on her. She recovered in time to play the following season, but endured another setback when she tore her ACL in August of 2023. She had surgery on her knee in October, then worked towards graduating early from high school and enrolling at South Carolina for the spring semester.

She was finally cleared for full action at the end of July and immediately jumped into an important role for the Gamecocks. Entering the week, Harris has started every game as the team’s libero and averages 4.09 digs per set, fifth-most in the SEC, with a .968 serve reception percentage over 280 total receptions. Her 23 digs in the week one matchup at Duke led the defense and is the most by a Gamecock freshman since Taylr McNeil in 2014 (23 vs. Furman). Harris joins current senior Morgan Carter as the only Gamecocks to play libero as true freshmen since the position was first introduced in college volleyball in 2002.

WHITESIDES CARRIES 2023 MOMENTUM INTO 2024
The loss of senior Riley Whitesides to injury late last season came at an inopportune time for the Gamecocks, as the veteran pin was in the midst of one of the best stretches of her career in October 2023. The Greenville native averaged 12.87 kills, 9.25 digs and a service ace per game in eight October matches last fall. On top of that, Whitesides averaged 3.36 kills per set in the team’s six games against ranked opponents when she was healthy. The injury forced her out of two games completely, and even after she was cleared to play she was limited to a back-row-only role in the final three games of the season, where she was unable to be part of the offense. A healthy Whitesides enjoyed a breakout season with the beach volleyball team in the spring semester, moving up to the top pairing by the end of the season and finishing with a 20-15 overall record.

In 2024, she has reached heights rarely seen by a Gamecock pin in the modern scoring era. Entering Wednesday, Whitesides is hitting .239 and averaging 4.31 kills per set, both are career-high paces and the 4.31 kills per set would rank her third in the program’s rally scoring era if the season ended today. Against Auburn on Oct. 27, her 16 kills led all hitters and set a single-season personal best in the category. Her previous single-season high was 268 in 2022, but she needed 101 sets and 27 games to get there.

GAMECOCK NATION PACKS THE GYM
Few venues feature the atmosphere of the Carolina Volleyball Center, and Gamecock fans came out in record-setting numbers last fall. The team had more games with 2,000 or more fans in 2023 (5) than in the previous 49 seasons of volleyball at South Carolina combined (3) and six of the top-10 most-attended matches in program history came in the team’s first eight home games. The team broke the single-season home attendance record in 2023, welcoming in 23,114 fans, surpassing the previous record of 18,797, set during the 2018 season.

Dating back to 2014, the Gamecock volleyball program is averaging at least 1,000 fans per game every season. So far in 2024, the team’s total attendance of 16,996 ranks 45th nationally and the average of 1,307 fans per game ranks 54th nationally, with all but one of the 53 teams ahead of them playing in a larger venue. In 13 home games, the team has seven over-capacity crowds.

HIGHS AND LOWS AT THE NET
A typical strong point for the Gamecocks, the team’s blocking defense has taken a dip in 2024. Only three players, starting middles Oby Anadi and Ellie Ruprich and right side Tireh Smith, are over 25 total blocks through the team’s 22 games to date. As a team, South Carolina has fallen back to 11th in the SEC for blocks per set and 165th nationally.

South Carolina finished fourth in the SEC with an average of 2.46 blocks per set last fall. For as good as the Gamecock block was, however, opponents were better. South Carolina opponents averaged 2.75 blocks per set when facing the Gamecocks, far and away the most in the SEC. The team allowed 10 or more blocks in 16 of its 27 games overall and nine of 18 conference games. The 2.75 blocks per set against them is the the highest single-season average for Gamecock opponents in the rally-scoring era (since 2001).

That number remains high in 2024, currently South Carolina has been blocked more overall (205 total blocks) and per set (2.85) than any other SEC school. Six of the 11 SEC opponents faced by the Gamecocks so far this fall have gone for double-digit blocks, compared to just two double-digit block games for Carolina.

STATUS QUO IN THE CLASSROOM
The program improved its streak to 15 seasons in a row earning the AVCA’s Team Academic Award, announced on July 17. The Gamecocks have put 10 or more individuals on the SEC’s Fall Academic Honor Roll for eight seasons in a row and placed 16 members on either the Fall or First-Year Academic Honor Rolls in the 2023-24 school year. This comes despite an ambitious list of majors that spans the world-renowned business school, sports science fields and education.

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

Home is where the heart is. The Gamecocks are 66-29 (.695) at the Carolina Volleyball Center in Mendoza’s seven seasons.
September is the team’s best month, combining for a 41-18 mark. The highlight came in 2018 with a perfect 9-0 record in September, the first Gamecock squad since 1983 to do so.
The team is 85-13 when winning the first set, 18-71 when losing it.
In five-set matches, the team holds an 24-15 record. In the three years prior to his arrival, the Gamecocks were just 7-8 in five-setters.
The offense finished with a higher hitting percentage than its opponents 102 times and have lost just nine of those matches.
Aces have been a key to victory; under Mendoza the Gamecocks are 79-19 when matching or surpassing opponents in aces.
If the back line is locked in, the odds swing heavily in South Carolina’s favor; the team has a 56-12 record when finishing with more digs in a match since Mendoza arrived in 2018.

ALL TIME RECORDS

South Carolina holds an 890-709 (.557) all-time record, dating back to it’s first season as a varsity sport in 1974. 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 238-330 (.420) in the 31st season as a member. The 200th SEC win came on Nov. 8, 2019 at Mississippi St.
Dating back to 1983, the team has a 37-5 record in its home opener and a 24-18 record in its road opener.
The team has a 17-17 overall record in the opening game of SEC play.
In matches in the Carolina Volleyball Center, opened in 1996, Carolina is 256-140 (.645) overall and 131-120 (.525) in SEC matches. The CVC’s 250th win came on Sept. 10, 2024 against the College of Charleston.
Tom Mendoza was introduced as the program’s 13th head coach on Jan. 3, 2018. This is his ninth season overall as a head coach, with a career record of 150-105 and a record of 103-87 at South Carolina. He has led his teams to the NCAA tournament in five of his eight years as a head coach and is just the fourth coach in South Carolina’s history to reach 100 career wins.