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Edlund, L BRYAN JOHNSTON Sports Editor Three Gamecocks made the A11-SE< volleyball team, with two on the first tear Q and one on the second team, as announce by the SEC Thursday. Senior Heather Larkin made scho( history by being named to the A11-SE( squad for four years ? a first for USC vol leyball. She is just the second person ij school history to be named All-SEC all fou years. Carolina's three-time All-America] golfer Siew Ai Lim was also named all fou years. ? Junior setter Ashley Edlund mad the hrst team tor the second year m a row She has made the All-SEC team all thre years of her career. Sophomore transfer Crystal Moon was named to the All-SEC second team It's a first time honor for Moore. A four-year starter, Larkin has madi the first team the past three years. Thi middle blocker made all four All-Tour nament teams this fall and was namec ? MVP of one. The Lake Elmo, Minn., native was named SEC Player of the Week Oct. 6 after her triple-double in the win over No 22 Arkansas. She leads the team in kills, attempts and block solos and is second on the team in hitting percentage, block assists and total blocks. Larkin is No. 2 in career kills and No 4 in career block assists at USC. On the year, she had six double-doubles and had 18 matches in double-figure kills. She hit over .368 in seven SEC matches and had a career-best 24 kills against Kentucky. "If s exciting for our school that more and more players are making it each year," Larkin said. "It shows how we continue to get respect." A co-captain, Edlund made the first team for the second consecutive year ^ and the All-SEC team for the third year, She had her second triple-double oi her career against Ole Miss, which led to Gamecock 1 LARRY WILLIAMS Staff Writer It began inauspiciously with a loss to UVa. Then came an encouraging close loss to UNC. But then clemson came to Columbia and dominated USC. What began as a season of promise had already turned ugly?and the SEC schedule hadn't even begun. But after the dreadful start that included the even more dreadful losses to UNC-Asheville and Charleston Southern, the Gamecocks reeled off 18 of their last 19 regular season games. a With an exceptional blend of nerve, ^ excitement and explosiveness, USC shocked the state and, for that matter, the rest of the country, when it climbed as high as No. 4 after a season-ending win at UK, a win that earned the team the SEC Championship. StSBi For Games P The Wint Dec. 5,1997 thr Gar ! St. Joseph's (PA) South Carolina Stat Towson State Vanderbilt I nni<;iana State * Special distribution of si Monday Dec.l and Tuesi until 4 p.m. Distribution the Russell House. Studi available on game day a Office Student Ticket wi halftime of the game. Vali for the SEC games and i conference games. Valid at distribution or at the C Students are not guars to each game, only the r! -i. i.>i as Siuuem uvrvois are a Remember, the good s your ticket as soon as y< Handicapped or disabl ^ assistance by cal irkin garr her being named SEC Player of the Oct. 13. She is No. 2 in career assists ai 11 one more year to reach the recorc leads the team in hitting percentag assists and is tied for the team lead ii The Portage, Mich., native made ^ All-Tournament teams this fall, m a it a total of nine all-tournament tea r her three-year career. Edlund was excited to receive th a or, but said it wasn't as important a r er things. ?Ti.> x. i . j i?- - its mce to De recognizea ior e work, but it doesn't mean as much a ' far our team is going to go," Edlund e "I'd much rather have our team do great than for me to have these av B "I set team goals at the beginn the year, not individual, but it's ni< coaches recognize my play." USC Head Vollevball Coach Km 8 son was very happy for the two first-1 I ers. "I'm really proud of Heather and } ley," Hudson said. "It's a really goo ; complishment for them. They cert are deserving of that award." Moore, a transfer from New M i State, has made an immediate in i on the team, starting every match bu She's the team's primary passer. The outside hitter is tied for the ' lead in aces and is second on the teg kills and digs. She made two All-Tournament t in 1997 and had eight double-doubles, four in SEC play. "Crystal has done a fine job this , adapting to our system," Hudson sa ' knew she would be a good player i I'm a bit surprised at her progress." The Gamecocks, 19-6 overall a ; school-best 11-3 in the SEC, trav ' Athens, Ga., this weekend for the Tournament. They take on Ole Miss r a.m. Friday in the first round oi i tournament. basketball i Of course, we all know what hap pened next. By their own fault, USC self-destructed Fell apart. Disappeared. Completely forgot how to play. Whatever. In the SEC tournament's second round, UGA handled the Gamecocks with alarming comfort The shots that fell the previous two months were nowhere to be found. So perhaps the loss to Georgia ? USC's second to the Bulldogs in 199697 ? should have come complete with a sign warning fans what would happen if the Gamecocks failed to show again in the NCAAs. But it didn't. At least not in Pittsburgh. Not to the No. 2-seed in the tournament. Not against No. 15-seed Coppin State. Coppin who? It's not the question anyone's asking now. No one who knows anything toe QQ'QM&se ratSsoa layed During er Break u Jan. 12, 1998 riQC I I o Sat. Dec. 20 ;e Tues. Dec.23 Tues. Dec.30 Wed. Jan.7 Sat. Jan.10 :udent tickets will be day Dec.2 from 9 a.m. will be in Room 205 of ent tickets will also be t the Coliseum Ticket ndow from 9 a.m. until idation will cost $12.00 >10.00 cash for nonations will be available oliseum on game night. inteed a student ticket ight to a ticket as long mailable. eats go early, so get [>u can. ed students can get ling 777-6742. The Qamecock ler honors ?e V"~V iaceS j really *:"r' LTT I 111' Camerock ards- Heather Larkin (above) and ingof Ashley Edlund were named to thp the All-SEC first tonm. Sophomore transfer Crystal Moore was named to the second Hud- team. j but ifP ^ : ind a V* el to v i SEC ^ at 11 m f the #_!__ , : ? ;eam hopes tc about college basketball in these parts, p ! Shocker of shockers, the Eagles beat o Carolina. Handily. It wasn't even close. That brings us to this season. a Presumably, USC has learned from Sl 1 its mistakes, which last season were ^ , ? , ? , . v, iew ana iar oetween, Dut costly inaeea. 11 1 Surely the Gamecocks have uttered and 8 heard the platitude "anyone can win on s1 any given day" enough that they actu- ? ally believe it. ^ L Are these Gamecocks the sixthbest team in the nation? Obviously the Associated Press voters think so. With- P out question, so do USC's fans. But a coach Eddie Fogler, true to form, has ( said he believes No. 6 might be a bit B i of an exaggeration. That's fine. But Fogler is Fogler, right? He's b never been known to tell everyone and ii : anyone how good his team is. He's more a CAROLINA Open Audi Guys! Girls! Do SING? DANCE Then come audition i USC's finest singers Monday Dec. 1, 7:00 pm, N< 1 Hour Credit MWF for more inform Dr. Richard Conanl Regional Customer We are looking for customer-focused, join our state-of-the art call center loca PART-TIME CUSTOI TEAM MEMI The successful candidate will have one experience (preferably in a high call vol communication skills and the ability to Customer service team members assis service ana aeiivery ana must maintain ensuring quality service. PC experience requires a four to five hour morning or; a week. Weekends and holiday work re Applications for this position will be s successful completion of typing, spellii requirement 30 wpm. Call our human resources division by V schedule an appointment for these app The State Neu Human Resource /an 771.1 ^ WWW J M m u \ 1-800-888-5353 An Equal Opportun Pre-Employment Drug Screens and Crim [m Friday, November 21,1! Gamecocl take on tl NATHAN BROWN Asst. Sports Edit< In their previous exhibition game, the No. 6 Gamecocks were dealt a disappointing loss to Marathon Oil. Bu1 USC, coming off a big win against Maryland in their regular-season open er, pummeled Chemosvit-Slovakia 8554 in their final exhibition game of the year. Carolina Head Coach Eddie Fogler seemed rather pleased with his team's performance, but recognized Chemosvit is not the same caliber oi team as the Gamecocks. "[My goals were to] play better than against Marathon Oil and play everyone, win or lose," Fogler said. "Hopefully, we can execute better and '' ? ?.> "^^W^::::::X:::::>>:::wX$::.' T%:::: x?:*:'<:x|:;. ;v^ igs . |jr ' *:?: $: '" ? .v SEAN RAYFORD The Ga Junior Recus Nix loses control c ball on his way to the hoop. i repeat las rone to downplay a victory than pump ne up. Right? Sort of. Fogler has generally given honest nalysis of his teams. Before his first eason, Fogler said, more or less, that is team stunk. And it did. Same for is second year. Before his third seaon, he said his team would make trides, and it did, finishing in the N.I.T. iefore his fourth year, he said his team 'ould challenge in the SEC. Of course, ISC won the SEC. Barring a rash of injuries or a mass layer revolt, the Gamecocks should be verv ?rood team this vear. True, USC is good. Thaf s old news, iut how good? The Gamecocks certainly weren't ad in their 76-72 win over Maryland 1 the opener last Friday. Taking into ccount last year's meek beginnings for L ALIVE tions you like to: ? TRAVEL? md be a part of and dancers! ew Music Building 210. 12:20-1:10 ation, call Service Center forward-thinking individuals to ted at The State Newspaper. MER SERVICE 3ER(2) year of customer service lume center), excellent work in a team environment, t callers with their newspaper production requirements while i a must. The work schedule ifternoon shift, four to five days quired. icceoted bv aDDointment after fig and math appraisals. Typing l/ednesday, December 3 to raisals tspaper is Division 3350 , ext. 8350 ity Employer inal Background Check Required 997 is crush Sh le Bulldogs >r play with a lot more emotion than we did against Marathon Oil. ? "[I] hope this is a positive step, whether this is a practice or a game : todav. I think it was. Of course, we are ; a lot better team than what they are and should win easily, which we did.^ The win was spearheaded by senior forward Ryan Stack, who finished with 15 points. To start the game, Stack swished a three-pointer and followed with four j more points to score seven of USC's first 11 points. By game's end, Stack had snagged three rebounds, shot 75 percent from the free-throw line and was perfect from behind the three-point arc. Fogler attributes Stack's im* *3 proved play to him becoming more J sure of himself on the court. "I think the big key with j $ ?i Stack is confidence," Fogler said. ( j^Jjgj "Stack finally believes he's as good I as we thought he was. We've alI ways thought Ryan is better than 1 fRff what Ryan thought." c I With Stack's quick points, the Gamecocks jumped out to a small lead. But behind a strong offen- j sive showing by all players, ChemosvitVdeficit soon be- ^ came an insurmountable 25 points by the end of the first half, c In the second half, the Game- 1 cocks increased their lead to 32 |~jg before winning by 31. Caroli- f na's offense kept Chemosvit's de- ? SS fense guessing, but USC's defense t dominated the Eastern Euro- f peans. < * * The Slovakian team was held * ' scoreless for the first six minutes c and 17 seconds of the game. For j the entire first half, the Game- 1 mecock cocks allowed only 18 points, t ?f the forced 16 turnovers and had a to- 1 tal of nine steals. j t season's pe USC, any win is a quality win, notably one over Maryland. 1 If the Maryland victory told us any- 5 thing about these Gamecocks, it let us 1 lrnnw fhovHl ho a lnt lilro fhov woro Tact } year. Case in point. After the first quar- s ter against Maryland, USC found itself down 20-9. Sure enough, though, there was Bj Mckie notching three consecutive three-point plays to forge a halftime tie with the Terps. Mckie's outburst had 1996-97 written all over it. So did Melvin Watson's. With a lit tie time left in the game and his team down by three, Watson threw up a prayer from NBA range that was answered, and the game went into overtime. Minutes later, it was Watson again sinking a three from the top of the key ? this time about three feet closer ? to assure his team the victory. if ]\ ? QUALITY* VALL I REE REEDS CHARGE MAJOR CRE 9 wakians, tonight Every South Carolina player who dressed saw playing time and contributed to the win. Junior guard BJ Mckie was the leading scorer with 16 points. Junior forward William Gallman pulled down the most rebounds with nine. Senior center George Formanek had USC's only block. And sophomore guard Hagen Rouse had a team-high five assists. Tonight, in the first regularseason home game of the year, the n -I i iii it. i uamecocKS iook 10 Keep tneir two-game winning streak alive as the Citadel Bulldogs come to Frank McGuire Arena. According to Fogler, USC has better players, but that doesn't necessarily guarantee a win. "We are better in terms that we have better players," he said. "We had setter players against UNC-Asheville, Charleston Southern, as well as Coppin State. "So I tell them all the time, and [ tell them again, upsets happen in :ollege basketball. And an upset could lappen tonight, although we have bet;er people." The Citadel returns four starters rom last season, including center Matt ^euman, guard Virgil Stevens and piard Jamie Jenkins. The 6-foot-8-inch Neuman needs rnly 31 points to reach the 1.000-point rhe way they fancy it, they'll be doing he destroying, giants of the SEC they :laim to be. J IL M l xHR IE SERVICE DIT CARDS'LAYAWAY nark in his career. Stevens comes back as the Dogs leading scorer with 14.4 points ind leading stealer with 31 takes, lenkins was picked a preseason AllSouthern Conference choice by Street k Smith. Coming off the bench to keep Carolina's big men busy will be 7-foot :enter Kirill Misyuchenko. The Bulldogs will try to avenge ast year's 85-55 loss. But USC leads ;he series 66-23 and is 41-9 in Coumbia. The tipoff is scheduled for 8:07 ).m. rformance Truth be told. Watson won't likey burn the nets from long range this .eason. He's a point guard known more or his serendipities and quickness than lis marksmanship. The Gamecocks won't be able to sneak up on teams like they did so of;en last season, especially on the road. Sarly conference games at Mississippi state, Florida, Alabama, Vandy and jSU served as good tests for the yet;o-be-proven Gamecocks. This year, they can look forward. o packed houses most everywhere they jo. Yes, the Gamecocks are the huntid now in much the same fashion that Kentucky is. USC fans remember those days.