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Gamecock Offense Powers Past LSU in Five-Set Thriller
Women's Volleyball  . 

Gamecock Offense Powers Past LSU in Five-Set Thriller

BATON ROUGE, LA. – Offensive Records fell left and right as South Carolina (14-9, 5-7 SEC) overcame a first-set loss to defeat LSU (13-11, 5-8) in five sets on the road Wednesday night. The Gamecocks hit .343 with setter Sarah Jordan breaking the rally-scoring era record for assists (66), helped by a career night from Riley Whitesides and her 30 kills.

1st SET: The Gamecocks took advantage of a high-error LSU offense to push away in the early going, after trading points it would be a 7-0 Carolina run that made it 13-8 and forced an early Tiger timeout. Five of the seven points in the run came from unforced errors by the home side. LSU was able to right the ship and clawed back ahead at 18-16 after six unanswered points to get the Gamecocks to call their first timeout. The Tigers were able to maintain the lead and had the match’s first two set point opportunities, coming at 24-22, but the Gamecocks answered with a kill from Campbell Paris and an attack error to knot the set up at 24, the tenth tie. LSU would respond with the next two points, though, for the 26-24 win.

2nd SET: Serving errors slowed South Carolina in the second, negating an otherwise strong offensive performance by the Gamecocks. Six missed serves accounted for more than a third of LSU’s point total as the two teams traded off through the first 30 combined points. The Gamecocks locked in down the stretch, though, scoring seven of the final eight points for a 25-18 win. For the set, South Carolina out-hit LSU .444 to .059. The momentum shifted after a reviewed call flipped what would have been an 18-all tie into a 19-17 lead for the Gamecocks, who pulled away behind a strong effort from Tireh Smith. The right-side pin had two kills and a block during that final eight-point stretch. Unforced errors continued to stymie LSU, the Tigers had six attacks go out along with a pair of blocks for Carolina.

3rd SET: The two teams fought hard to gain the momentum and set advantage, there would be six lead changes and 12 ties before the first timeout of the set, a 15-14 advantage for South Carolina. LSU punched back with a 3-0 run to take an 18-16 lead, inducing the first called timeout of the set for the Gamecocks. South Carolina was able to side out after the break, but the Tigers extended the lead out to 22-17 behind a 4-0 scoring run. The home side closed out the set by a 25-23 margin, brushing off a late 4-0 scoring rally for the Gamecocks.

4th SET: Pressed into service at the last minute, Campbell Paris more than proved herself in a must-win fourth, leading the team with six kills in a 25-20 win. The sophomore had five of the team’s first 11 kills in the set, all within the first 13 points. The team broke away with a 4-0 run to break a 7-all tie and held the lead the rest of the game. The one-two punch of Paris and Whitesides on the left pin would be too much for LSU, they combined for 11 of the team’s game high 20 kills.

5th SET: In the final sprint to 15 points, LSU had the early advantage at 6-4 before a game-defining run behind the right arm of Whitesides. The Gamecocks sapped the crowd’s energy with a 7-0 run, with four of the points coming from Whitesides kills. The veteran finished with six kills in total in the 15-9 win, with her 30th and final kill setting up match point at 14-8. Fittingly, the match was clinched by Louisiana native Oby Anadi, her seventh kill of the night finished off the comeback.

NOTABLE

  • Junior Alayna Johnson missed the match with an undisclosed injury, it is her first time this season out of the lineup. The Kershaw, S.C. native entered the week ranked second on the team in kills and service aces.
  • Sophomore Campbell Paris started in Johnson’s place, her last start this season came in the opening weekend against Colgate (Aug 31). It was Paris’ first career start on the left pin, where she played for the majority of her time at the high school and club level.
  • Paris responded with her best game of the season, putting away 15 kills on a .333 hitting percentage. Her previous best was eight in a five-set match at Georgia on Oct. 11. It is her 10th career game with double-digit kills.
  • It was a night to remember for Whitesides, her 30 kills are the most by any Gamecock since Sept. 6, 2013 (vs. Clemson). The last Gamecock with 30+ kills against a SEC opponent was Shonda Cole on Oct. 1, 2006 (vs. Alabama)
  • It wasn’t just Whitesides’ total that impressed, it was also her efficiency. Over a caree-high 66 swings, she had just six errors, good for a .364 hitting percentage. It snapped a five-game stretch where her hitting percentage was just .161.
  • Setter Sarah Jordan had her best night to date as a Gamecock, passing out 66 assists while guiding the offense to a .343 hitting percentage. It is a rally-scoring era record for most assists in a match of any length, surpassing Megan Hosp’s 65 against North Carolina on Dec. 6, 2002. The last Gamecock with more was Hosp during the sideout-scoring era, with 72 against Arkansas on Sept. 24, 2000. She is the first Carolina setter to go over 60 assists in a match since Courtney Koehler in the first round of the 2018 NCAA tournament against Colorado (Nov. 30, 2018).
  • South Carolina’s .343 hitting percentage is the second-highest for a five-set match in program history, behind only a .357 percentage against Arkansas on Nov. 23, 2012.
  • After averaging five digs per set over two matches last weekend, Victoria Harris had another solid match on Wednesday. The freshman libero had 26 digs, her fourth game with 20+ this fall. She is tied with five other Gamecocks for the fifth-most 20-digs matches in a single season since 1993.
  • Brooke Doherty was also pressed into service with Johnson out, working across the back row as a passer. She had five digs, a service ace and a kill while not making any errors in serve-receive.
  • The Gamecock offense erupted after cleaning up their errors on serve; the team had nine service errors in sets one and two, but just two more over the final three sets.
  • Ellie Ruprich provided the team with key scoring through the middle, recording a season-high seven kills to go with six blocks and a service ace. She is the tenth different Gamecock to record an ace so far this season.

QUOTABLE: TOM MENDOZA

UP NEXT: It will be just one game this week, South Carolina’s next games will be Nov. 22-24. The Gamecocks wrap up a five-game road stretch with matches at Alabama and Tennessee. First serve against the Crimson Tide on Friday the 22nd will be at 7 p.m. ET, the rematch with the Lady Vols will be Sunday the 24th at 2 p.m. ET.

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