Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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□ a Gamecock Sports Schedule ■ Volleyball vs. Georgia, Friday, 7 p.m. M^^^B ■ Football at Florida, Saturday, 3:30 pm (CBS) ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ Swimming at Clemson, Saturday, 2 p.m. J ■ Men’s basketball exhibition at Carolina Coliseum, Saturday, 7:30 p.m. WM 0amccock ■ Wednesday, November 8, 2000 Gators weighing on Holtz’s mind by Michael Haney The Gamecock The South Carolina Gamecocks are looking for a stepping stone, and they could find one Saturday when they take on the Florida Gators for the SEC East title. USC has found their way into the national spotlight and a chance for the conference title by pounding out a surprising 7-2 record in the SEC. With big victories over USC at Florida, Sat, 3:30 p.m. (CBS) Georgia and Mississippi State this year, the biggest game has yet to come. Against the Gators, a perennial SEC football powerhouse, the Gamecocks can expect possi bly the best team they have faced all season. As Florida coach Steve Spurrier said after their win over Vanderbilt last weekend, ‘This was a big game, but the biggest is coming next weekend against South Car olina.” This is different from previous years, when this game was nothing more than a chance for Florida to warm up for their game against archrival Florida State. , Head coach Lou Holtz said the Gamecocks can’t be content and must play their best Saturday. “I talked to our players last Thursday in no uncertain terms and told them we are very capable of going down there and being embarrassed by the University of Flori da,” Holtz said. “Our players don’t understand how you have to go into a game like this. I was about as frank as I’ve ever been with that football team. Just because we are there doesn’t mean it’s going to be a close game, nor is it go ing to be memorable,” Holtz said. t Some would say this is the biggest game in the his tory of the football program, but Holtz knows it’s prob ably the biggest since Carolina joined the SEC. “We’ve never had a championship game to play for. I think it’s big for the state, the school and the players. We’re proud to have gotten here, but getting out of it is going to be tough,” Holtz said. Holtz said he is wary of his team’s mentality Satur day. He doesn’t want them to be content with where they are but feels they might be to a degree, which he said is a dangerous situation for the team. “I think that you have different standards of con tentment. I think sometimes we are content where we are, and where we are is not where we want to be,” he said. “We want to be in this game, but we want to have a.better football team.” “Against Tennessee, we didn’t play with the intelli gence and the determination that we had played with ear lier in the season, and that bothers me. Now I see the same thing, and I talk to them and talk to them ... but enough is enough. We’re playing as difficult a team in as difficult an environment as you can get,” Holtz said. Despite his concerns, Holtz feels the Gamecocks can play as well as anyone in the country, and they should relish Saturday’s opportunity. “It’s what you would like to have going into a game like this, [the] last SEC game of the year [and the] Eastern Division championship. So we are excited about it, but it is going to be a very difficult, uphill struggle, and we have got to accept the challenge,” Holtz said. The sports desk can be reached at gamecocksports@hotmail.com. Sean Rayford The Gamecock South Carolina head coach Lou Holtz has his team one win away from the SEC Championship game. The Gamecocks travel to Gainesville Saturday to take on the Florida Gators. Carolina’s Bouknight captures Golden Spikes Award by Dave Cloninger The Gamecock Gamecock pitcher Kip Bouknight added anothei achievement to his resume Friday when he recieved the Golden Spikes Award, presented annually to the na tion’s top amateur baseball player. Bouknight topped the list of five candidates, among them LSU catcher Brad Cresse and Georgia Tech’s Mark Texiara, giving him four of the six possible 2000 playei of the year awards. Past winners of the Golden Spikes include Jason Varitek, Will Clark and Robin Ventura. “For me, it’s just really an honor to be selected as a finalist,” Bouknight said. “It turned out to be a greal opportunity to represent the university and, luckily, I end ed up winning it.” Winning the Spikes caps a season where Bouknighi led the Game90cks to a 56-10 overall record, an SEC championship and the team’s first-ever No. 1 national ranking while winning the SEC pitcher’s Triple Crown with a 2.81 ERA, 143 strikeouts and a 17-1 record. Bouknight claimed the conference’s Male Athlete and Player of the Year awards, along with three other Playei of the Year awards from the Collegiate Baseball news paper, the Rotary Club of Houston, Texas, and the Amer ican Baseball Coaches Association. Bouknight accepted the award in Las Vegas, ac companied by his parents, his fiancee and USC heac coach Ray Tanner, while surrounded by several Majoi League Baseball representatives such as Greg Maddux Andruw Jones and ESPN analyst and former player Harolc Reynolds. “I’m extremely proud of Kip Bouknight, the success that he’s had, and what he’s brought to our program,” Tanner said. “What he did personally certainly was hard to match, but there were four other people in Vegas who had big years as well. But we’re extremely proud he was selected.” Bouknight decided to come back for his senior sea son at Carolina, despite being drafted by the Oakland A’s and seeing the two other members of the “Killer B’s” pitching rotation, Peter Bauer and Scott Barber, pass up their senior years for the major leagues. His decision was met with applause and delight from Gamecock fans and team personnel, as well as a personal letter from Gov. Jim Hodges. , Although Bouknight will be expected to anchor the Gamecock pitching staff this season, he does not feel any added pressure to perform because of last season’s suc cesses. “The fans, the coaches and the media are obviously going to have high expectations of me, but that comes with the territory,” Bouknight said. “For me to be able to come back as a senior on a great team with a great head coach is going to have a positive impact on me,” he said. It may seem hard to overcome or duplicate the suc cess of the 2000 Gamecock squad, which broke many school and national records in its run to the top. However, Bouknight is poised to continue that suc cess and hopefully grab the only missing segment from last season: a berth in the College World Series. “My main goal is to always give my team a chance to win,” Bouknight said. “What I do is try to give 110 percent every day, be a good leader and, as far as the team goes, win a national championship. That’s the ultimate goal.” The South Carolina baseball team begins its season Feb. 3 against Wofford. The first pitch is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. The sports desk can be reached at gamecocksports@hotmail.com. L... 7.__-JHHKL..—— Sean Rayford The Gamecock USC pitcher Kip Bouknight (center) won the Golden Spikes Award on Friday. The Golden Spikes is just one of the many awards Bouknight has collected for his 17-1 season a year ago. Gamecock volleyball team hoping to earn share of SEC title this weekend by Charles Tomlinson The Gamecock The USC volleyball team will conclude their regular season this weekend, and the Southeastern Conference regular season title is at stake. The Gamecocks will host the Georgia Bull dogs at 7 p.m. Friday and will host the Florida Gators at 2 p.m. Sunday in their regular season finale. With a victory over Georgia on Friday, the Gamecocks will challenge the Gators in hopes of a tie for the SEC title. In their first meeting this season, USC de feated Georgia 3-1 in Athens. The Bulldogs have a 14-12 overall record and a 5-8 SEC record. In their game earlier this season, USC out-hit Georgia .302 to . 148. The Gamecocks also led the Bulldogs in digs, 63-38. Last week, UGA swept Georgia State at home. Later that week, they dropped two matches in three days to Florida, losing 3-0 in Gainesville and 3-1 at home. Junior outside hitter Stacy Buerger leads UGA in kills with 4.07 per game. Junior middle block er Erin Gornes leads the team in hitting with a .312 average. Kilee Goetz, a redshirt freshman setter, leads the team in assists with 8.47 per game. Senior setter Iskra Perez leads the Bull dogs in service aces with 0.33 per game. Gomes and junior middle blocker Kristine Keese lead in blocks with 1.16 per game. Georgia leads the all-time series with South Carolina, 29-6. The No. 9 ranked Florida Gators are 21-3 overall and 13-0 in the SEC. Last month, USC lost to Florida in four games, snapping a 10-game Carolina winning streak. Florida led USC 11-7 in blocks and 62-43 in digs. Junior outside hitter Niki Hartley leads the Gators with 266 kills and 254 digs this season. Sophomore middle blocker Nicole McCray is a close second with 253 kills. McCray has also hit .365 this season. Freshman outside hitter Aury Cruz leads Flori da in service aces with 27 and has contributed 198 kills this season. In block assists, middle blocker Benavia Jenkins leads Florida with 109. The Gators are No. 1 in the SEC and are on ly one match away from their 10th Southeastern Conference title. The Gamecocks, 20-4 overall and 11-1 in SEC play, have been receiving national atten tion lately. They were ranked 28th unofficially in the AVCA/USAToday poll this week, the first time they have received any votes this season. On Sunday, USC defeated Kentucky to win the 16th of their last 17 matches. The Gamecocks are on a six-match winning streak. “It’s nice to receive recognition nationally because this team has worked hard this season,” USC head coach Kim Christopher said. “But we can’t forget the task at hand. We know Georgia and Florida are both very good teams, and they will be ready for us.” The sports desk can be reached at gamecocksports@hotmail.com. Amy Goulding The Gamecock Gamecocks Niece Cuiry (left) and Megan Hosp team up for a block. USC will need to win twice this weekend for a share of the^SEC tide.