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14 GAm SCHEDULE WOMEN’S GOLF at The T>BY Cup in Tokyo, Japan, Wednesday and Thursday PONTAPT IN WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL vs. Uta at Shamrock Invitational IrHj I in South iend, Ind., 4:30 p.m. Friday Story ideas? Questions? Comments? MEN'S SOCCER vs. Jaksonville, 7:30 p.m. Friday E-mail us at gamecocksportS(whotmail.com WOMEN’S SOCCER at T-xas A&M, 8:30 p.m. Friday Volleyball falls to Tigers BY BRAD SENKIW THE GAMECOCK The USC volleyball team lost to in-state rival Clemson on Tuesday night 3-1 in a match that featured 22 ties and 12 lead changes. The Gamecocks finished with a .249 hitting average, while Clemson (3-5) hit .226. Although USC (2-4) had eight aces compared to Clemson’s six, the Gamecocks committed six more errors in the defeat. “It came down to home court advantage and serving,” USC head coach Kim Hudson Christopher said. “This is a tough environment ■ to play in and we got rattled.” Sarah Morgan led the Gamecocks’Xvith 19 kills, while Lynae Vanden Hull had 13 kills and Nicole Miller had 13. Niece Curry and Katelyn Panzau fin ished with three serve aces as well. Clemson recorded nine blocks and had four players finish in dou ble-digits in kills. In the first game, Carolina lost 33-31 after an exciting game in which Clemson trailed until tying the game at 26-26. The Tigers then took the lead by one before the Gamecocks had a chance to end the game. Vanden Hull’s back-to-back kills put her team up 27-26, but Lauren Ford committed a service error that cost the Gamecocks greatly. Curry got a point back for Carolina but after committing anothererror, tying the game once again. Vanden Hull’s kill and serve error set up the Tigers with a 30-30 tie. Clemson’s Stephanie Haskell and Leslie Finn helped the Tigers with two block assists, and Finn put Clemson up 1-0 in the match with a kill. Although Carolina, who had 21 kills, out hit Clemson, who had 19 kills, .217 to .154, the Tigers’ six block assists made the difference. Clemson con tinued to take ad vantage of Gamecock mistakes by recording only two serve errors in the sec ond game, winning 30-26. The Tigers dominated after USC took a 4-1 lead and never looked back. USC was out hit and out dug in the loss. In game three, Carolina re sponded with its back against the wall by winning 30-22. USC cleaned up several errors as Morgan recorded seven kills and Vanden Hull finished the game with six. Curry served up her three aces as the team picked up five overall aces in the game. The Gamecocks ran out of gas in the fourth game, losing 30-26. After a tough contest in which Morgan tied the game 25-25, Clemson closed the deal and ran off five-straight points to take the match. “We are young but I still believe we are very good athletically,” Christopher said. “We will learn from this experience and contin ue to move forward.” It was the second loss in the last three matches for Carolina, who is 1-3 away from home. Clemson picked up its third win after win ning only one match in a tourna ment last weekend at Clemson. It’s the first loss to the Tigers that Carolina has suffered since 1999. USC still leads the overall match up record 31-19. USC must now regroup and head to Notre Dame this weekend for the Shamrock Invitational in South Bend, Ind. The Gamecocks will take on Utah, Indiana and the host, the Fighting Irish. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecocksports@hotmaU.com BORDER I 1 i use I cornerback Ted Crawford, If a native of Lithonia, Ga., Is a former teammate of Georgia quarterback David Greene. PHOTO BY JOHNNY HAYNES/THE GAMECOCK THE USC-UGA , GAME HAS EXTRA MEANING FOR SEVERAL PLAYERS I FROM BOTH TEAMS jT Georgia I defensive end Robert Geathers played high F school football In Georgetown. PHOTO SPECIAL TO THE GAMECOCK BY JIM ROCHE It’s known as the annual border war between the USC Gamecocks and the Georgia Bulldogs. The epic rivalry usually takes place the third week of the season, in early September, and usually makes for a tough grudge match between two states and ^B.: the two football programs. tBi: The past two years indeed have gone down to the if! wire; both schools have suffered through rain, injuries and desperation plays to pull out a victory. But for some Gamecock players, the border war itself means a little something more than just the deep old-fashioned Southern rivalry. For many members of the No. 25 Gamecocks, the trip to Athens this weekend is not just a chance for a major upset in college football but a chance to play for the home crowd. “I need all the extra tickets I can get,” USC cornerback Dunta Robinson said. “I’ve got to go beg some of my team mates for extra tickets.” Seventeen players on USC’s roster hail from Georgia, in cluding quarterback Dondrial Pinkins, running backs Kenny Irons and Daccus Turman, and defensive backs Ted Crawford and Robinson. Many of the Georgia natives think going back to their home state gives them something to prove. “Just being from Georgia and knowing a lot of the Georgia guys, not being able to go to Georgia, I just want to go back and prove maybe I can play at Georgia,” Pinkins said. “But I’m happy here now.” USC’s Georgia natives know many of the Bulldog play ers as well. Crawford was a high school teammate of Georgia star quarterback David Greene, who also was a roopimate of Pinkins at the Peyton Manning camp over the summer. ' Pinkins also played AAU bas ketball with play-making receiv er and UGA basketball star Fred Gibson. , Robinson has a more important relationship with a Georgia player in wide receiver Damien Gary. Robinson said the two are best friends and attended Clarke ► Central High School in Athens together. Over the phone or on the field, the two friends speak little \ about football. u®*5 v “We don’t really talk about what’s going to happen during the game,” Robinson said. “He has that lev el of respect for me, and I’ve got the same respect for him. “I just can’t even describe the way I’m going to feel when I step out on that field on Saturday. I know the only thing I’m going to do is smile because I look at where we came from to where we are today. It’s going to be a real special moment the first time we line up to each other.” On the other side of the ball, Georgia has four former South Carolina high school players. UGA relies heavily on All-SEC tight end Ben Watson, a senior from Rock Hill who had a short stint at Duke before transferring. Robert Geathers, a defensive end from Georgetown, had a career-high seven tackles against the Gamecocks last year. Other South Carolina natives include lineback er Marcus Howard, from Huger, and Tim Jennings, from Orangeburg. The USC-UGA connection doesn’t end with players. Georgia also has two assistant coaches that have served on the USC coaching staff. Assistant coach Jon Fabris served under USC head coach Lou Holtz as defensive ends coach in 1999, and assistant head coach John Eason served under coach Brad Scott as offensive coordinator from 1995-1998. Georgia head coach Mark Richt thinks the game has meaning for future success for the teams, as well. “The past couple of years we have played, the team that won went on to have a very successful season. The team that wins will have momentum going into league play right now, and the team that loses will have its backs to the wall immediately,” he said. In 2001, No. 21 Carolina stormed into Athens to play the 25th-ranked Bulldogs and posted a 14-9 victory. Special teams played a huge part as USC’s running hack Derek Watson returned the opening kickoff 66 yards and. Langston Moore blocked Georgia kicker Billy Bennett’s 37-yard field goal as Georgia trailed 7-6. Finally, with less than two minutes left in the fourth quarter, Phil Petty hooked up with Brian Scott for a 16-yard touchdown pass to give the Gamecocks a 14-9 win between the hedges in Athens, only to heighten the border war. With the memory of the 2001 upset in Athens and Georgia’s last trip to Columbia, during which Quincy Carter threw five interceptions, the No. 9 Bulldogs came into Williams-Brice Stadium on a rainy, dismal day look ing for revenge in 2002. Georgia’s defensive end David Pollack scored a touchdown off a freak interception by USC’s Corey Jenkins in the South Carolina end zone to put the Bulldogs up 10-0. USC came back behind a Corey Jenkins 25-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Ryan Brewer that made the score 13-7. But it remained a dark and cloudy day for USC as the team drove down to the Bulldogs 2-yard line only to fumble the ball on fourth and goal with no time left on the clock. No matter what the importance is going into the game, Holtz has told the USC players that if Georgia wanted them, they would have ended up there. “It doesn’t matter where you’re from,” Holtz said the message to his team was. “You came here. You’re a Gamecock now.” Comments onkthis story? E-mail * gamecocksports@hotmail. com Voice of Clemson cead at cge 69 BY’ETE IACOBELLI THESSOC1ATED PRESS CEMSON, S.C. - Jim Phillips, whse voice carried the fate of Cleison’s sports teams on radio for 5 years, died early Tuesday moring. Pillips, 69, died at 4 a.m. at Grenville Memorial Hospital follaing seven hours of surgery aftehis aorta burst, the school saidThe school’s loss could be seenutside Clemson’s IPTAY boogr office, where the team’s orane Tiger paw flag flew at half-:aff. * Pillips had an eye, ear and voicfor more than football. He was le only ACC play-by-play an nourer to call baseball as well as men and women’s basketball. The ean of ACC broadcasters also lndled the football and bas ketbi coach’s shows. Phlips opened the season call ing ti Clemson-Georgia game, his 4ith for the Tigers. He also calle Saturday’s Clemson Furrmgame. “Hwas the father figure of Clemin, right now,” said Will Merr:, a former Clemson offen sive lteman who took over as col or anyst on the broadcasts this year.I truly loved him every time Fas around.” Ph ips “has been a landmark in thatlantic Coast Conference for tl past 36 years,” ACC Comr.ssioner John Swofford said. “I low he meant a whole lot to thianiversity. He spent a long time : this university,” said Willia Henry, a senior offensive linemi for the Tigers. “It really is a biloss.” ThClemson football team will var the initials “JP” on their ilmets during Saturday’s game “Tire has been a lot of tradi tion ai history at Clemson, and he’s (finitely a big part of it,” footbd coach Tommy Bowden said. Clason baseball coach Jack Legge who worked with Phillips for thoast decade, said he’ll miss the mi who’s voice each spring procl med “It’s baseball time again Phlips always was upbeat and psitive about the Clemson playe: and Tiger teams, regard less f the circumstances, Legge said. “I member a couple of times we hasome tough games back to back, i see him getting ready to do oumterview, and he’d be the one tdry and get me going,” Legge said. In Clumbia, Bob Fulton called gamefor Clemson’s archrival, the Seth Carolina Gamecocks. Clemai lost a great fan and “an excellnt broadcaster,” Fulton said, ‘le had a great love for the Tigers’ Amr uiton iosi a aear iriena. “Whe people would see us to getheitalking or laughing or vis iting sports bar together, they couldnot understand,” said Fulto, 83. Working for rivals “does ot mean that you can’t be close > somebody on the other side olhe fence.” Whe they worked in different booth: “we never failed to con gratulte the team or each other when te game was over,” Fulton said. Whn Fulton called his last South arolina-Clemson game in 1994 aClemson, Phillips master fully srprised him with a plaque and a lemson jersey with his name ad the number 43, repre sentin his years on the broad castingig- “It choked me up.... I’ve lo: friends, but this one re ally hits,” Fulton said. “Heure is going to be missed,” said Dnny Ford, the man who coachi Clemson to a national champnship in 19&1. “I da’t know what in the world they’r going to do about Saturay” when Clemson faces MiddltTennessee State at home, Ford sid. Pimps’ family asked Tim Bourrt, Clemson’s sports in i PHILLIS, SEE PAGE 15