Gamecock Pair Earn All-Conference Honors
BIRMINGHAM, ALA. – The Southeastern Conference announced its 2024 volleyball postseason awards Sunday afternoon. South Carolina had two honorees this fall, with graduate student Riley Whitesides making the 16-woman All-SEC First Team, and first-year libero Victoria Harris making the seven-woman All-Freshman Team.
Whitesides put together one of the best seasons by an attacker in the program’s 51-season history. The left-side hitter averaged 4.43 kills per set, ranking her inside the top 25 nationally. In the regular season finale against Texas A&M on Nov. 30, she passed Shonda Cole’s 2005 total of 414 for fifth-most in a single season in the modern scoring era. Her 4.43 kills per set average is second-highest in the program’s all-time history, behind Cole’s 2006 average of 5.95. The Greenville native is responsible for over 34 percent of the team’s total kills for the entire season, which is the second-highest share of kills in the program’s stat-keeping era (since 1984). She nearly doubled her kill total from 2023 (239) while also hitting almost 60 points higher (.184 in 2023, .241 in 2024).
Entering a hopeful postseason berth, Whitesides ranks in the top 10 for kills (1,430, 5th), attacks (3,954, 3rd), service aces (99, 2nd), digs (912, 10th) and points scored (1,622.0, 4th) for the rally-scoring era (since 2001). She is the first All-SEC honoree for South Carolina since 2022 and 24th woman overall to make the conference list since the program joined in 1991.
Columbia native Victoria Harris has elevated her hometown team’s defensive play with a record-setting season at libero. Overcoming two season-ending injuries to close her high school career at Cardinal Newman, Harris is the ninth Gamecock in program history to make the SEC’s All-Freshman Team and first since 2021. She ranked sixth in the SEC for digs per set, at 4.05, which also ranked 12th nationally among Division I freshmen. With her efforts on the back line of the defense, South Carolina lowered its total of service reception errors from 166 in 2023 to 103 in 2024 and ran a more efficient offense that improved its hitting percentage 25 points from year-to-year.
Harris’ 381 digs are the second-most by a Gamecock freshman in program history, behind only Fernanda Laires’ total of 470 in 1996. She had four 20-dig games this fall, most by a freshman in the program’s SEC era (1991), topped by a 27-dig performance on Nov. 13 at LSU. It was the most in a single game by any freshman Gamecock in the rally-scoring era and the ninth-highest total overall, earning her SEC Freshman of the Week honors on Nov. 18.
Brooklyn DeLeye of Kentucky was named the SEC Volleyball Player of the Year, and Maya Sands of Missouri was voted the Libero of the Year. Mychael Vernon of Missouri was selected the Newcomer of the Year, while Jaela Auguste of Florida was tabbed the Freshman of the Year. Scholar-Athlete of the Year went to Cammy Niesen of Ole Miss. Kentucky head coach Craig Skinner was named SEC Coach of the Year. All awards were chosen by the league’s head coaches, and no ties were broken.
The Gamecocks finished the regular season with a 16-11 overall record and 7-9 mark in conference matches. South Carolina will discover its postseason fate later on Sunday evening, the NCAA tournament selection show will air at 6 p.m. on ESPN. First and second round action begins Thursday, Dec. 5 with games running through Saturday. South Carolina is looking for its first NCAA tournament berth since 2021 and fourth appearance overall under head coach Tom Mendoza.
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