The South Carolina volleyball team triumphed in the Battle of the Carolinas on Sunday, taking down the North Carolina Tar Heels as the team returned to the Carolina Volleyball Center for the first time in twenty years. Currently, the Gamecocks possess a season record of 4-1.
This win comes on the heels of last Friday’s victory against Temple, another three-set win where the Gamecocks held the Owls to a 0.050 hitting percentage. Though it was an all-around strong performance, the defense dominated, with graduate student left-hitter Riley Whitesides earning herself a double-double with a team-high 15 kills and 10 digs.
South Carolina held Temple to a high of 17 points. With her three solo blocks in Friday’s game, graduate student middle blocker Ellie Ruprich became the first Gamecock since 1993 to reach 100 solo blocks in her career.
Overall, the Gamecocks dominated, breaking down Temple’s offense and blocking them at every turn. This third win under the Gamecocks’ belt on Friday paved the way for Sunday’s victory over North Carolina.
The Gamecocks added a three-set win to make the team’s three-game win streak four while delivering North Carolina its first loss this season. The game was competitive throughout, and the teams were fairly evenly matched on paper.
The first set was back-and-forth between the two Carolina teams, and though the Gamecocks fell behind originally, they matched the Tar Heels, 14-14, and pulled ahead. The set concluded with a huge kill from senior middle blocker Oby Anadi for a final set score of 25-18.
The second set was much closer, as the Gamecocks trailed the Tar Heels’ lead for the majority of play. After tying their opponents 19-19, South Carolina held North Carolina to a single-point deficit until they could catch up and overtake them to win the set.
“There were stretches where, especially (during) the first part of the second set, and the first part of the third set, where I thought North Carolina was playing (at) a really high level,” head coach Tom Mendoza said. “When they earn points like that, you say ‘good job,’ and then we try and go back and match it, and hopefully wear them down. And I thought our team did a good job of just sustaining their level today.”
The third set was more decisive, with the Gamecocks taking a 9-point lead and ending the game in three winning sets.
Whitesides’ strong performance
After a victory in the first set, where South Carolina held North Carolina to 0.079, the lowest hit percentage of any set played, the Gamecocks entered the second set to find the Tar Heels ready and refocused.
The teams went point-for-point in the second set. A consistent performance from Whitesides cleared the path to victory for the Gamecocks. Whitesides evened the score at 22-22 with her fifth kill of the set, and then again, 23-23 while completing a block with Ruprich.
“At the start, I was getting blocked and making a few more errors than I would have liked to,” Whitesides said. “My coaches have a lot of faith in me, which I really appreciate. Because it just allows me to keep swinging and being aggressive … and my setter Sarah is incredible — I just kept swinging, kept working and it eventually paid off.”
While the Gamecocks lagged from the first point of the set, they managed to pull ahead at the 26-25 point and pulled out the 28-26 victory shortly after.
“The second set could have gone either way,” Mendoza said. “It was just about who was going to make one or two plays at the end, and eventually, we were able to wear them down a little bit.”
Whitesides, who ended the game topping the kill list for South Carolina at thirteen, and completing four blocks, the second-most on the team, was a driving factor of that set victory.
Jordan stands out
Though the game was competitive throughout, the Gamecocks proved to be more aggressive than the Tar Heels. Junior setter Sarah Jordan, a new addition to the Gamecocks, has become a vital part of their offensive strategy.
Jordan played two seasons at Towson before transferring to South Carolina. Since the first game of the year, she has recorded 127 assists, completing 33 of them in Sunday’s matchup.
“The addition of Sarah and Victoria (Harris) has been huge. I cannot say enough great things about all of our setters,” Whitesides said. “Sarah has just really taken that team of setters and made them so much better. Because she’s so intense, she’s such a great leader, she’s such a great teammate.”
Jordan’s performance was marked by a series of extremely effective plays in the first set — an assist to Whitesides, a kill and a block with Anadi to contribute to 3 back-to-back points.
Gamecocks find their footing
After two sets of back-and-forth between the two Carolina teams, the Gamecocks brought the game to a close with a decisive win in the third set.
Momentum swung in favor of South Carolina. The team ended the set with 0.600, their highest hit percentage of the game by far. Their next highest hit percentage was 0.257, a decrease of more than half. Targeted attacks and a single error allowed for an 8-0 scoring run to end the set, and the game, 25-16.
“We’re only in week two of (the) season, so it does take us a little bit to get used to the team we’re playing. We don’t have that much film on them,” Whitesides said. “By the third set, we just literally knew what we were doing, and we knew what to expect, we knew what they were going to do, so we just kind of capitalized on that.”
The third set featured three kills from Anadi, who rounded out the game with the highest hit percentage on the court, 0.727. Something clicked for the Gamecocks, becoming an offensive threat as the team managed to anticipate the moves of the Tar Heels and shut them down.
“Our first and second contact just got a lot better — so our passing and setting — and our hitters were just aggressive,” Mendoza said. “I thought we did well throughout the whole match. It’s just not always going to be effective. Even when you do the right things, it’s not going to work.”
What’s next?
The Gamecocks (4-1) will have a quick turnaround before hosting the College of Charleston Cougar on Tuesday night. The match will be streamed on SEC Network+ with first serve scheduled for 6:30 p.m.
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Publish date : 2024-09-08 15:21:00
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