Spring Break
Volleyball holds serve at Gamecock Invitational
Megan Gibson
Issue date: 9/20/04 Section: Sports
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The Gamecocks defeated Michigan State on Saturday in five games (30-22, 30-21, 21-30, 25-30, 15-6) and Notre Dame on Sunday in four (30-28, 25-30, 30-22, 30-23).
In their first win ever against the Spartans, Carolina took a 2-0 game lead in the match. In game one, the Gamecocks held Michigan State to a .000 kill percentage with eight attempts and eight errors, while the Gamecocks had 19 kills. USC controlled the second game as well, hitting a .529 with 20 kills and only two errors. However Michigan State came out strong in game three and took an early lead. The Gamecocks trailed by as many as nine at one time and never made up the deficit to lose game three 21-30.
Game four was a tight matchup with nine ties. Carolina stayed in the game, never trailing by more than four points until the final point gave Michigan State the game 30-25. The Spartans tied up the match at two games each, forcing the Gamecocks into a fifth and final game.
USC was down early in the fifth game 3-1. Shonda Cole gave the Gamecocks the momentum on a big kill that led to a 6-0 run. The Spartans never regained their composure and allowed Carolina to go on consecutive 4-0 and 3-0 runs while they totaled only six points, winning the fifth game 15-6.
The Gamecocks then faced Notre Dame in the tournament championship game Sunday. In game one the Irish came out strong, leading USC by as many as eight on a 6-0 run to make the score 5-13. Sarah Morgan kept the Gamecocks alive with an impressive game-high six digs. She was also a powerful force at the net with a .400 kill percentage.
The turn-around came when Lynae Vanden Hull went on a 7-0 serving streak, including one ace, to put USC up 19-16. During this run Morgan had two kills to keep the momentum with the Gamecocks. Due to a streak of unforced errors on serve-receive for the Gamecocks, Meg Henican of Notre Dame went on a serving run of her own to give the Irish back their lead 23-22. The game then tied at 25, 26 and 27 before Carolina finished it off 30-28.