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Gamecock Sports Schedule ■ Men’s basketball vs. Mercer, 6:30 p.m. Wednesday ■ Women’s basketball vs. Clemson, 9 p.m. Wednesday ■ Swimming at U.S. Open in Auburn, Thursday-Saturday ■ Volleyball vs. George Washington in NCAA Tournament, 5 p.m. Friday Gamecocks prepare for NCAA Tournament - « With a first round victory against George Washington, the volleyball team could potentially face No. 1 Nebraska 0 Amy Goulding The Gamecock One of USC’s four All-SEC players, Cally Plummer, gets set to return a serve. The redshirt sophomore looks to lead the Gamecocks to postseason glory this weekend in Nebraska. by Charles Tomlinson The Gamecock The Gamecock volleyball team has qual ified for the NCAA Tournament, marking the fourth time in six seasons that USC has par ticipated in the postseason. USC will travel to Lincoln, Neb., to take on the Geoige Washington Colonials in first round action at 5 p.m. Friday. If the Gamecocks can get by the Colonials, they face a potential match-up with No. 1 Ne braska in the second round. Nebraska has been ranked at the top of the AVCA rankings for most of the season and is undefeated, with a record of 28-0. But the Gamecocks aren’t looking ahead. “Wfe’re looking forward to playing Geoige Washington,” USC head coach Kim Christo pher said. “They’re a very good team.” Christopher is concerned with GWU’s ex perience, but she said she welcomes the chal lenge. “We’ve been watching film on them to day,” she said “They have several seniors. It’s just an opportunity for our program to peak at the right time of the year.” “We’re excited to be in [the tournament],” she added “It’s a great opportunity for our pro gram to go to Nebraska for the first time ever” The players are just as enthused as their coach. “It’s a new season,” redshirt sophomore Cally Plummer said. “We’ve had a good one so far, and now we’re looking forward to go ipg to the NCAA.” Plummer also emphasizes that USC is fo cused on the task at hand and not looking ahead to potential match-ups. “It’s=been our goal all year (to make the NCAAs), and I think we’ve worked hard for it,” she said. “Now we’re just going to take our focus to one match at a time.” It has been a banner year for the Game cock program. This season, the Gamecocks fin ished 21-6 overall in the regular season and boasted a 12-2 record in the SEC. The 12 wins are the most conference wins ever in school history. The Gamecocks’ only two SEC losses came at the hands of No. 9 Florida. Carolina comes into the postseason tour nament winning 17 of their last 20 matches. This season is also the sixth consecutive 20-win season during Christopher's eight-year career at USC. The Gamecocks have been paced all sea son by All-SEC sophomores Plummer, Megan Hosp and Bema Dwyer. Sam Alban made All SEC second team. Last weekend, Carolina was knocked out of the SEC Tournament early after a 3-2 loss to Georgia, despite leading the Bulldogs in every statistical category. Milicia Perovic led USC, hitting .349 with 19 kills, while Nadia Sefferovich knocked down a career high 20 kills during the match. Carolina will look to recover from that dis appointing loss Friday. George Washington (25-5) got to the tour nament by winning the Atlantic 10 conference tournament. They earned their spot opposite South Carolina after defeating Xavier Sunday 20-18 in the deciding game of a 3-2 victory. The Colonials are 2-2 against the Game cocks all-time. The teams last faced each other in 1990, when GWU, at their own Smith Center, defeated USC in three games. This marks George Washington’s second trip to the NCAA Tournament. In 1994, the Colonials lost to the Comhuskers in the sec ond round of the tournament. Nebraska, Hawaii, Wisconsin and South ern California are the four No. 1 seeds in the 64-team tournament. The NCAA Tournament will commence Thursday across the country at the campuses of the higher-seeded schools. The Gamecocks are primed to make a run at a title. “We feel pretty good; we’ve been prac ticing a lot,” USC’s Nia Mackie said. “We’ve been really working hard on being ready for the NCAA, and we’re working hard and doing well. We feel like this is going to be a good part of our season. Wfe’re going to move on and take one game at a time and do the best we can.” USC’s last NCAA Tournament appearance ended in defeat, a 3-2 loss to Colorado State at Texas. The sports desk can be reached at gamecocksports@hotmaiLcom. Basketball teams to play doubleheader at home Men hope to defeat Mercer, continue home winning streak by Casey White The Gamecock The South Carolina men’s basket ball team (2-1) plays its fourth game of the season tonight when it takes on the Mercer Bears (1-1) at Frank McGuire Arena. The game opens as part of a dou bleheader, with the women’s team play ing Clemson in the following game. The Gamecocks have recovered quickly from an upset opening loss against Tennessee Tech with wins in their last two games. Their most recent victory came last Saturday with a deci sive 72-58 rout of South Carolina State. Carolina hopes to secure a victory over Mercer tonight to extend their winning streak to three games. The beginning of Mercer’s season has been just the opposite of Carolina’s. The Bears started their season on a high note with an upset victory at Auburn, only to fall to UNC Asheville in their next game, 76-60. Carolina has been steadily improv ing on their overall game as the season warms up. As a team, the Gamecocks have hit 40 of 51 free throws over their last two games after making only 9 of 17 in their loss to Tennessee Tech. This improvement can be attributed to the efforts of five players: David Ross, Tony Kitchings, Marius Petravicius, Aaron Lucas and Jamel Bradley, who have each made more than 71 percent of their in dividual free throws. In points scored, Chuck Eidson is the only Gamecock to reach double fig ures so far, averaging 12 points per game. However, many of his teammates are close to reaching this mark, and the over all balance of the team’s talent is a strong point for Carolina. Eidson is still the player to watch after his debut as a freshman last year. He led the SEC in 1999-2000 with 93 steals, crushing USC’s school record by 20. So far this season, Eidson leads the Gamecocks in rebounding and assists, and he ranks second on the team in blocked shots and steals. His versatility has paid dividends for the Gamecocks. “Chuck can play 40 minutes at one (point guard), 40 minutes at two (shoot ing guard) and 40 minutes at three (small forward), Carolina head coach Eddie Fogler said. Gamecock post players Calvin Clemmons, Tony Kitchings and Mar ius Petravicius form a strong frontcourt that has averaged 23.7 points and 16 re bounds per game. They are also shoot ing 73.1 percent from the line. Mercer will look to even things up inside with sophomore center Scott Emerson. Emerson leads the team in points per game with 18.5. Bobby Hansen is the driving force from long range for the Bears, making 10 of 16 shots overall from behind the 3-point arc. He is the third leading scorer on the team with 11.5 points per game, just one point behind Rodney Kirtz with 12.5. Kirtz leads the team overall in re bounds and steals. Tonight’s game will decide who takes the lead in the series between Car olina and Mercer, which stands tied at two wins apiece. However, Carolina holds the edge in Columbia, 2-1. The sports desk can be reached at gamecocksports@hotmail.com. • Women try to avoid another loss to arcn-rival Clemson by Chris Foy The Gamecock It’s been five years since South Car olina’s women’s basketball team last de feated Clemson. Since 1996-97, the Lady Game cocks have been held winless against their bitter rivals from the Upstate, and USC head coach Susan Walvius wants to put an end to the losing streak tonight at Frank McGuire Arena. “I can’t stand to lose,” Walvius said. “[Beating Clemson] means a lot to me. I don’t know if the newcomers understand it (the Clemson rivalry), but maybe that’s a good thing.” Carolina is also looking to get back on track tonight alter a sluggish 1 -3 start to their season. The Lady Gamecocks returned from Cancun, Mexico, Mon day night after playing in a tournament that saw them win a game against Mon tana State Friday and lose a close battle with No. 4 Purdue Sunday. “We outplayed Purdue for 30 min utes,” Wilvius said. “Wfe are getting bet • ‘[Beating Clemson] means a lot to me. I don’t know if the newcomers understand (the Clemson rivalry), but maybe that’s a good thing.’ Susan Walvius USC women’s basketball head coach ter, and I’m excited about our poten tial.” The Lady Tigers, like South Car olina, have aspirations to improve their current record. Clemson is 2-2 so far on the season. In 1999, Clemson put up a 19-12 overall record, good enough to get them to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Clemson enters tonight’s game fresh off a victory over Alcorn State. With the win, the Lady Tigers won the Maui Invitational in Maui, Hawaii. In the Alcom State game, Clemson was led by sophomore guard Krystal Scott, who scored a season-high 18 points and added five rebounds. Erin Bath, the team’s senior center, put up 14 points and 10 rebounds. Freshman guard Chris sy Floyd was the third player who scored in double digits for the Tigers, with 12 points. The Clemson defense held Al corn State to only 34.6 percent shoot ing. “Clemson looks great on tape,” said a concerned WWvius. “We have to be realistic. Our effort will be there and we’ll play as hard as we possibly can. But they have a lot more experience Clemson seepages Latest loss to Clemson another chapter in South Carolina despair Kyle Almond Sports Commentary I I don’t know if I can take much more of this. Just as the Gamecocks were about to cap off their fantastic season with a win at Clemson, tragedy once again reared its ugly head. Rod Gardner’s catch, or whatever you want to call it, stole the game from USC and broke the hearts of thousands of Carolina fans, includ ing myself. I don’t know about you, but I’m getting sick and tired of heartbreak. I’m sick and tired of leaving every game with the feeling that I’ve been drinking a case of beer * 4 and Lennox Lewis has been using my stomach for a heavy bag. I’m sick and tired of seeing Game cock glory right in front of me, only to see it snatched away by a last-second turnover, a de fensive collapse, or in this case, moronic referees. I’m just fed up with the whole disappointment thing. When will the madness end? The Clemson game was only the latest in a string of disappointments that can be traced back to the start of my freshman year. Who will forget last season’s Homecoming game against Vandy? Faced with an actual lead in the fourth quarter, we collapsed down the stretch. Our best shot at ending the dreaded losing streak missed like Steve Florio’s last-second field goal attempt. Remember last year’s game against Florida? Petty’s pass to Ben Fleming for a touchdown had the crowd screaming before a chop block penalty brought it back. The momentum, crowd enthusiasm and probably the game was lost right then and there. ^ We even had Clemson on the ropes last year before Gardner’s touchdown catch on 4th and 10 sealed the deal on a winless season. Man, I’ll be glad to see him graduate. Heartbreak isn’t limited to just the gridiron, The Gamecock men’s soccer team was one win away from the NCAA Tournament last year when Brown came in to Columbia and edged them 3-2. The basketball team was spanking undefeat ed Syracuse on national television for almost the entire game before Etan Thomas and the Or angemen pulled out a squeaker in overtime. The loss sent the Gamecocks on a downward spiral, as they lost their next eight games. USC also came close to defeating Michigan State over Thanks giving break in the Puerto Rico Shootout. With a win over the Spartans or the ’Cuse, the Game cocks might have gained confidence and nation al respect — enough to carry them through a tu multuous SEC season. Dan Langhi, all 8-foot-10 of him, added in sult to another devastating defeat \|hen he ran down the court yelling and taunting a silent Frank McGuire Arena seconds after sinking the game winning free throws. The nail was as for into Vhndy’s coffin as it could get that night without shutting, and the Gamecock fans found themselves once again going home with tears in their eyes and anger in the hearts. It’s a wonder that crime isn’t more of a problem in this city. Even the No. 1-ranked baseball team could n’t escape bitter defeat. One win away from the College World Series, and the freakin’ Louisiana Lafayette Ragin’ Cajuns come to Saige Frye and spoil the one sport we actually could say we were a dominant force in. Notice a theme here, people? And that’s just in one year. Gamecock fans are loyal. Gamecock fans are supportive. But Gamecock fans are also masochis tic. Why do we continue to punish ourselves with heartbreak after heartbreak? That’s a question many outsiders have to ask. The only way I can exptoi it is with more op timism. Sometime down the line, we will come up with a conference title. Somewhere down the road, we will grab a national championship. And when that day comes, I have to be there to see it. I don’t know if it will come this year or the next, or even 20 years down the road, but the Gamecocks will eventually be the ones doing the heartbreaking. Or at least, that’s what I tell my self so I don’t go insane. I admit, we have had a few bright spots. We did beat Clemson at home last season in one hell of a baseball game, and Lou’s got us going to a bowl this year. But I need more. I need serious redemption, payback for loss es like at Clemson, revenge against the Langhis and the Gardners, and I will not rest until that hap pens. If I have to endure 50 more crushing defeats, so be it. The Gamecocks will have their day. Kyle Almond can be reached at