University of South Carolina Libraries
fcnday, October 7,1996 I a flu Ram m%M M J W %M ^AYNE MCLEMORE Assl Sports Editor P The Carolina volleyball team is fe ^defeated in their first four SEC matches t r the first time ever, after winning two lis weekend over Auburn and Alabama The Lady Gamecocks, 13-3 and 4-0, Dt revenge against the Lady Tigers and ady Crimson Tide after losing to both jams last season. Head coach Kim Hudson was specially happy about the victory over Hwburn Friday night. "This was a big one for us," Hudson laid. "This is a very talented Auburn earn They are ranked No. 2 in the district ind we are No. 3, so this win should help is." The match versus Auburn was as iown to the wire as they come. Carolina looked sharp in the first game, opening up with a 5-1 lead. The team then went up 11-3 on an ace by freshman Fe Laires. ^ Junior Heather Larkin would later Rep up to serve the Lady Gamecocks to a 15-5 victory. Game two also went Carolina's way, with the team opening up a 10-5 lead. The team hit .440 for the game, winning 15-7. Larkin recorded four kills in the game. Auburn then took games three and four. The Lady Tigers exploded to an 111 lead in game three. Carolina would rally to make it as close as 14-12 before losing 15-12. _ Auburn then won game four 15-9. w Both teams buckled down for game five, which proved to be a real see-saw Alomar gives It seems 1996 has miiiumijii been open season on officials in every major I SAFETY sport. Even football hasn't been safe from the immaturity fc of today's players. Rodman's headbutt, Van Exel's forearm and more recently, the Roberto Alomar spitting incident have all scarred the face of sports this year. Furthermore, these incidents have also shown the dreadful lack of respect by these players for officials as well as themselves. These jerks hurt their teammates, coaches and more* m importantly, their wallets, even if the f fines are tax-deductible. Now don't get me wrong, f ve played football and there Auburn bre JOSH PENROP Staff Writer In the wake of a painful 28-24 loss ^o the 20th ranked Auburn Tigers, there "vas at least one thing that could not have been more obvious than the gleaming allwhifp nnifnrmo flip Gamecocks donned on their first road trip of the season. The "future" that critics have been referring to for all of Brad Scott's short tenure as South Carolina's head coach finally decided to rear its head on a breezy^xx)l Saturday afternoon in Jordan-Haire Stadium, nestled right in the heart of the Auburn University campus. On a 120-yard stretch of green, manicured field, and in front of about 77,000 nervous fans clad in blues and oranges, a stunned CBS crew and national audience that got more of a game than they ever expected and a splash of about 7,000 USC fans that could be prouder than Cheshire cats, it appeared as if Scott had unveiled a weapon his coaching staff had been eluding to for a little over ^two seasons. Unfortunately, a late Anthony Wright fumble, a Robert Baker 79-yard Women's Tennis In the first day of play at the Lady Gamecock Fall Classic, five of six South Carolina women posted first round I wins, with three players notching second round wins. First round winners included Karolina Bulat who defeated Coetsee of Indiana, 6-1,6-1. - Other winners were Tracy Kosteos, Tobi Rakic, Muriel Abella and Irme Kwast. Celine Regnier lost 7-6,6-3 in a hard fought match to Clemson's Devrin Canin the first round. Regnier bounced back in the second round to defeat Hackler of North Carolina 6-1,3-6,64. Other winners in the second round included Tobi Rackic and Muriel Abella Hie participants of the tournament include Clemson, Florida, Furman, Georgia, Indiana, North Carolina, Wake Forest and Wilham and Marv. The tournament is being held at both the Maxcy Gregg and Sam Daniels Tennis Courts in Columbia. ecock vol battle. The game featured eight lead changes and 11 ties. Carolina held a 15-14 lead, before falling behind 16-15. Larkin then stepped and served the Gamecocks to an 18-16 win and a 3-2 match victory. "Beating Auburn showed what we're capable of," Larkin said. It was a hard fought victory for Carolina. "It was a phenomenal game that could have gone either way," Hudson said. Hudson was most impressed with the team's defense. "We outdug Auburn by 46 balls," Hudson said. "Defensively, we're trying to be one of the best teams in the league, and I think after this weekend we should be." The Lady Gamecocks had four players in double-digit kills, with Larkin leading with 19. Sophomore Cindy Robarge, Laires, and junior Shani Abshier added 17,12 and 10, respectively. Robarge added five block solos, while junior Lori Drost recorded seven block assists. Laires had 26 digs, while sophomore Ashley Edlund added 60 assists. Sunday's game against Alabama also proved to be exciting, although there wasn't as much nail-biting going on. The Lady Crimson Tide opened game one with a quick 3-0 lead. Carolina would settle down to take a 15-8 victory. The Lady Gamecocks opened a lead Alabama then reeled off nine straight points to take a 104 lead. The Tide held baseball anot ! .? nave oeen times i ve iiUaliii wanted to knock an official BUTZ I into the next millennium. However, this is where maturity comes in. Save your pushing and your spitting for your opponents?they're the ones you should be worrying about anyway. What Roberto Alomar did was reprehensible. However, the way the umpires are handling this sordid incident is even more reprehensible. They are even threatening to boycott the rest of the post-season. Because of this, they are this week's winners of the Rush Hudson Limbaugh Big Fat Idiot Award. These arrogant losers don't realize aks the Gar touchdown scamper and a streaking Tyrone Goodson score marred an otherwise stellar performance by both South Carolina's offensive and defensive units. "I couldn't be prouder of them^ Brad Scott said. "Like I said earlier in the year, this is a special football team. They've overcome a lot. It's just bad that they weren't able to m?ke the plays they had to make to win the ball game." The offense was clicking on all cylinders for the first time this year. It had several sustained drives during the game as USC ate up 36:27 of the clock compared to Auburn's 23:33. Workhorse Duce Staley rushed for 99 yards on 33 carries, 19 of those in the first half, and had four receptions for 40 yards, giving him an all-purpose total of 139 yards. Anthony Wright threw to seven different receivers on his way to compiling 271 yards on 20 of 27 passing and caught the first reception of the ball game himself off of freshman receiver Jason Pomar's end-around reverse pass. Although Wright was dropped by Auburn's Martavius Houston for a six yard loss, the play helped set the tone for the game and showed Auburn coach Terry Bowden, KB Women's Soccer Debbie Smith scored the only goal of the game at the 13:00 mark to give South Carolina a 1-0 victory over Charleston Southern in women's soccer Thursday afternoon. The win improves the Gamecocks to 5-6 on the year while the Lady Bucs drop to 6-3. Smith's goal came off a corner kick from Angela Austin. Gamecock goalkeeper Amanda Sandling had five saves on the afternoon in recording the shutout. USC outshot Charleston Southern 13-7 for the game as both sides missed excellent scoring opportunities in the second half. In an earlier match fieshman Shelia Gartman scored her first goal of the season in overtime Sunday afternoon til Crivp npnrcria itc fViirrl pnnforonpp win of the season. In a game that remained scoreless throughout regulation, the Bulldogs were the first to put points on the board, courtesy of sophomore Jennifer Ahem, SPO leyball wi off a Carolina rally to win 15-13. Game three proved to be competitive early on, with the teams battling to a 7n i..- n 1: i.i i ? j ~ j r i_i. umpires. If Major League Baseball looses the fans this time, they may never get them back, and they can blame no one but themselves?and those stupid umpires. rtecock's he; "This game today, ail it can do h team achieve the goals that we! a very young football team put ii position." Brad Scott, he who was forced to coach his team from the press box due to early week back surgery, that the Gamecocks brought their bag of tricks with them. Among those tricks, Scott brought out the option for the first time this season and ran it successfully on three consecutive plays during the second series offensive drive. "I had a caller on my call-in show this week that recommended it (the option), so I didn't want to disappoint them," Scott said. "(Auburn) had shown n fnn/^nnmT fa rrnf in /Infnncitta fivinfo fVinf a IA^IAVACIIVV iaj got ixi tioioiioivo nuiiuo uiiat crowd the line of scrimmage and the option, we thought, would be good against it. We saw that early and ran it and weren't in that position to run it again. It's not a major part of our offense yet, but ifs certainly something we will always have ready to help us when the defense is trying to take advantage of the numbers on the line of scrimmage." whose second consecutive attempt made its way past South Carolina goalkeeper Amanda Sandling in the 95th minute of play. South Carolina was not to be counted out, however as Gina Iacovella scored on her second consecutive attempt to tie the game at 1-1 in the 113th minute. Men's Golf The University of South Carolina men's golf team fired a four-over-par 292 Tuesday and finished in 11th place at tne university 01 lennessee Tournament of Champions at the Holston Hills Country Club. East Tennessee State posted a 282 Tuesday and won the team title by three strokes. The Gamecocks finished in 11th place, but just 18 strokes off the lead. Carolina had a three-day 871 total, which was just six strokes out of the top five, in participating in the first tournament of the season. The Gamecocks' top finisher was junior Jake Kransteuber, who had a RTS an ins two ga i ue. i^cii uiiiia men expiuuea lur eigm consecutive points to win 15-7. Alabama then took a commanding 10-5 lead in game four. The Lady Gamecocks settled down, and once again won the game with a flurry. Carolina posted 10 straight points to win the game 15-10 and the match 3-1. Hudson was concerned about how the team would perform after the Auburn match. "I was a little afraid that we'd play flat because it was such an emotional win for us Friday night," Hudson said. "Alabama did a good job, but I was glad to get the win." Laires led the team with 24 kills and 27 digs, hitting an impressive .489. The mark for kills is Laires' career high, as well as a season high for the team. Four others joined Laires in doubledigit kills. Robarge recorded 18, Larkin, 15, Drost, 11, and Abshier, 10. The Lady Gamecocks also outdug Alabama 95-64. Sophomore Stacy Donham, who added 12 digs against the Tide, summed up the team's current attitude. "It's great that we're starting off 40," Donham said. "If we continue to do well then we'll make it to the NCAA's, and that's what we want to do." Carolina's next matches come this weekend on the road against Kentucky The team returns home on Oct. 18 to take on SEC-rival Georgia. her blackeye Alomar's five game suspension to be served at the beginning of next season is based on a precedent set by Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis more than a half-century ago, when Hank Greenberg was suspended for 30 games at the beginning of the next season for a shoving incident in the World Series. In a sport which has had eight work stoppages in 24 years, fans such as myself cannot bear to see one more. Baseball cannot afford another labor rHsnntp hpftvppn crrwrlv nlavprs nr idiotir* < l!i I mBBMSm v HI Sophomore Cindy Rol Alabama on Sunday al the Auburn Tigers this the volleyball teams i time that the Gamecoc arts with foi n^u i-? 1 S neip our lmsopuuusene# Ln,m T|,s- _ helped lead to a 15have. This is pl*y_ 74.yard i this touchdown drive that lasted 8:11 and gave _i x ,l .I u South Carolina the first ad football coach , , rr 7 T lead of the game at 70. Redshirt freshman Steve Mixon led a corps of young receivers with five receptions for 87 yards. Freshman Ben Fleming had three catches for 58 yards and a touchdown, and junior Calvin Owens contributed with a touchdown of his own, along with two receptions for 15 yards. Owens knows this loss to Auburn can only help this young USC team. "This game today, all it can do is help our team achieve the goals that we have. This is a very young football team put in this position. Playing in front of83,000 and playing in front of CBS, this game is really going to help our confidence as we go into our season and in years to come," Owens said. Owens also knows this game will be a motivating factor going into the Kentucky matchup. We re going to stick together as a two-over 74 Tuesday and finished tied for 15th with a two-under 214. Gamecock sophomore Stewart Ginn finished tied for 21st with an even-par 216 total for the three rounds after a 72 in his last round. Freshman Brent Roof had a 73 on his last round and finished tied for 26th place at one-over par in his first collegiate tournament. Eric Ecker finished with a 224 in 50th place, and Mark Catalano finished with a 231 in 70th place to round out the Carolina contingent. Baseball The University of South Carolina head baseball coach Ray Tanner made his first announcement here a^ USC. He announced that he will showcase the 1997 edition of the Gamecock baseball team in an intersquad scrimmage at Sarge Frye Field on October 19th following the South Carolina-Arkansas football game. The game time will be 5:30 pm and admission will be free. imoc thic i IIIIVV ?IIIV 1 || m ROBEI >ar?e is seen spiking the ball again Fternoon. The Lady Gamecocks beat I weekend in back to back home game ecord in SEC play to an impressive :ks have started the season 4-0 in cof rrth quarter i team," he said. "We proved that we can stick together and that we can go through anything together." Defensively, the Gamecocks looked the best they have looked all season. The South Carolina defense held Demeyune Craig, Fred Beasley and the rest of the Auburn Tiger offense to only 71 rushing yards and 228 total offensive yards. Almost all of the Tigers' rushing came in the second half as the Carolina first half defensive wall held Auburn to a measly 9 rushing yards on 10 attempts. The Tigers were also limited to only three first downs in the first half. Darrin Hambrick had six tackles and one quarterback sack. Arturo Freeman also helped to contribute to the defensive effort with an interception of Auburn's Craig. "Our defense, two weeks in a row now, has really come in and played well," Coach Scott said. "There's been a lot said about our defense, that they can't stop the run. Early in the season, we probably weren't in our run defense. You've seen our run defense in the last two of weeks. They played hard. I think there was only one sustained drive that^uburn put together, and this is a very good 1. Florida 2. Ohio St. 3.FSU # 4. Arizona St. 5. Nebraska V 6. Miami 7. Tennessee ^ 8. Alabama 9. Colorado O10. Penn St. 11. Notre Dame 12. LSU H13. UNC 14. Michigan 15. Northwestern U16. Washington 17. West Virginia 18. Auburn ?. 19. Brigham Young 20. Virginia L 21. California ' A 22. Kansas St. L23. Ga. Tech 24. Wyoming 25. Texas I 7 weekend ~ -8 I <00 B w I t ^^7 wt/f? jfl HT WALTON The Gamecock ist the University of the Crimson Tide and s. The wins improved 4-0. This is the first lference play. touchdown football team. The effort of our defense and the coaches has been very good. Unfortunately, we come up just a play or two short, just like we did last week." The contingent of fans that USC brought with them showed Auburn their fans just may not be the best fans in the SEC. The strong Carolina crowd helped give the team a boost and possibly kept the players playing like they weren't quite so far from home. "They helped a lot," Owens agreed. "It shows how far this program has come. Our fans always stick With us. They'll travel anywhere. If we go to Alaska, we're going to have 15,000 strong fans. They really help us out, and we appreciate so much of what the fans do for us, and like Coach Scott says, we have some of the best fans in the nation." Next season, Auburn will have to bring its team and its fans to WilliamsBrice Stadium, and it's likely that even if South Carolina is a 19-point underdog, that instead of being looked over, the Auburn coaching staff may spend a little more time looking at South Carolina. Just like head coach Brad Scott and his players said Carolina gained a lot of respect with this win. 1 137 3 129 2 127 5 122 7 108 8 106 9 104 13 101 10 100 4 87 11 83 14 80 15 72 6 69 22 58 18 46 19 42 20 31 21 28 12 22 NR 17 ' 16 11 NR Q 25 7 23 4