Women's Volleyball . November 27, 2024

Gamecocks Boost Postseason Hopes, Defeat No. 18 Gators in Five

Game #1

COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina bolstered its NCAA tournament resume in a big way on Wednesday afternoon, defeating No. 18 Florida in five sets in the Carolina Volleyball Center. The Gamecocks (16-10, 7-8 SEC) broke up a 10-game win streak for the Gators (21-6, 11-4 SEC) and spoiled their chance at sharing a piece of the conference’s regular-season championship. Coupled with the team’s road win in Gainesville in October, this is the first time South Carolina has consecutive wins over Florida since the 1986 season.

1st SET: Riley Whitesides was swinging early and often in the opening game, she accounted for six kills among the team’s first 15 points on the way to a 15-12 lead going into the first break of the afternoon. Both offenses were clicking throughout, the defense’s only reprieves came through pressure behind the service line and Whitesides would provide that in a key stretch for Carolina. After Florida cut the Gamecock lead to one, 16-15, she would take over service with a previously unseen jump top-spin serve and it put the Gators in a blender. Whitesides recorded two service aces in a 5-0 run to break the game open again at 21-16 and the Gamecocks went on to win 25-20, hitting .417 to just a .200 mark for Florida.

2nd SET: Both defenses adjusted accordingly to start the second, leading into a called timeout from South Carolina trailing 11-7, the Gamecocks committed six errors on the attack with Florida recording three blocks in the opening stretch. South Carolina was able to keep its head above water thanks to four errors and just three kills in that same span from the Gators. The visitors were able to limit Whitesides’ impact, she was held to just one kill and the Gamecocks were mired in more errors than kills for the set until the very end, finishing with 10 kills and 10 errors in a 25-22 loss. Florida had six blocks, helping pick up its offense that hit just .148 with 11 kills.

3rd SET: The Gamecocks showed their mettle when they needed it most, overcoming Florida late in the third to steal back momentum behind a 26-24 victory. Neither side found much daylight early, but it was the Gators on top late after four lead changes and 15 ties, pushing ahead 24-22 with a chance to go up a set on Carolina. Out of a called timeout for the Gamecocks, Florida committed four straight errors, the first three came on serve and then two unforced errors on the attack, the fourth and set-clinching point came from a combination block by Oby Anadi and Tireh Smith to rock the Carolina Volleyball Center.

4th SET: The high-risk, high-reward mentality behind the service line would come back to bite the Gamecocks in the fourth set, a game-high 10 errors behind the line negated another solid offensive performance and Florida would send the match to five sets with a 25-22 victory. The Gators finished with a lower hitting percentage and four fewer kills than Carolina, but were aided by a nine-point advantage in points from the serving game.

5th SET: Blocking would be the key to victory in the final race to 15 points, South Carolina pushed back a game-high four blocks among its 15 points on the way to a 15-13 victory to cap the match. Florida was held to a negative hitting percentage in the game, committing eight errors to just six kills, but still was in a position to win until a key run for the Gamecocks late. Out of a 11-10 lead for Florida, South Carolina got a kill from Tireh Smith, then a block from her followed by a kill for Whitesides to swing the momentum and provide the first multi-point lead for either team in the entire set. Smith and Ellie Ruprich set up match point with another block, and a service error from Florida sealed the decision.

NOTABLE

It was a true team effort in the win; coming off a loss at Tennessee where Riley Whitesides accounted for 19 of the team’s 36 total kills, the team had three individuals with over a dozen kills each on Wednesday: Whitesides (17), Alayna Johnson (14) and Tireh Smith (13).
Whitesides cracked the 400-kill milestone for the season on Wednesday, she is the eighth woman in the modern scoring era (since 2001) to reach 400, first since Mikayla Shields in 2019. Whitesides also went over 1,400 career kills, she is one of only five women in the program’s 51 seasons to reach that total.
In the 65 meetings prior to Whitesides’ arrival to Columbia in 2020, South Carolina was 7-58. Over her five seasons, the Gamecocks hold a 4-6 mark.
Tireh Smith appears poised to take over Whitesides’ mantle as Gator hunter, as she continues to perform well in matchups with Florida in her young career. The sophomore hit .296 with 13 kills and a team- and career-high eight blocks. Smith hit .412 with eight kills and six blocks in the team’s three-set sweep in Gainesville in October and, last fall as a freshman, came in as a substitute and hit .500 with five kills in three sets at Florida.
Victoria Harris led the team with 18 digs, she ranks second in the program’s all-time history for most digs in a single season by a freshman, now behind only Fernanda Laires’ total of 470 in 1996.
The team’s high-risk, high-reward mindset paid off on Wednesday, South Carolina finished with 30 service errors in the win. Across all of NCAA volleyball, the 30 errors are the most by any team in the nation in a winning OR losing effort dating back to at least 2019. The next closest high was 26, by Denver this season in a win against North Dakota (Oct. 5).
Florida entered the match with the SEC’s top offensive efficiency, hitting .304 through its first 26 matches which ranked it fifth among 334 teams nationally. The Gators ended Wednesday with a .129 hitting percentage, their lowest efficiency of the season.
Gator sophomore Kennedy Martin was named a National Player of the Year semifinalist by the American Volleyball Coaches Association earlier this week, but South Carolina was able to hold her 200 points under her season hitting percentage (.366 versus .163 on Wednesday.
With her two service aces in the first set, Riley Whitesides, moved past Ivana Kujundzic (2006-09) and into sole possession of third place for career aces in the rally scoring era. She also moved into the era’s top 10 for career digs, now with
This is the second top-25 win this season for the Gamecocks, head coach Tom Mendoza now has 11 wins over ranked opponents in his tenure. Only two South Carolina coaches have more than two ranked wins over their entire careers with the Gamecocks. Kim Williams had seven ranked wins in her tenure (1993-04).

QUOTABLE: RILEY WHITESIDES

UP NEXT: The regular season finale comes on Saturday, Nov. 30 at 1 p.m. against Texas A&M, the match is free to attend for fans. The Aggies lead the all-time series 17-3, after sweeping the season series with A&M in 2018, head coach Tom Mendoza’s first season, the Gamecocks have gone winless in seven straight matches. Two of South Carolina’s three wins in the series have come at home.