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. THE GAMECOCK ♦ Friday, November 7,2003 7 GAME SCHEDULE TONTAPT TTS MEN’S AND WOMEN'S'SWIMMING at LSU, 6 p.m. Friday i u U WOMEN’S TENNIS at SEC Individual Fall Championships, Friday Story ideas? Questions? Comments? MEN'S SOCCER vs. North Carolina, 7 p.m. Saturday E-mail us at gamecocksports@hotmail.com • VOLLEYBALL vs. Tennessee, 1:30 p.m. Sunday Carolina loses again in Little Rock GAME 10 use 6 ' ■gj (5-5,2-5 SEC) ° A Arkansas (6-3,3-3 SEC) 12 On third downs, the Gamecock defense allowed Arkansas to pick up 12 first downs in 15 attempts. 2 [)ondrial Pinkins threw his first ^kterception in the last four ^^ames with two on the night. His turnover in the third quarter was fumbled by Arkansas, and USC recovered. 232 The Gamecock defense gave up 232 yards on 48 rushing attempts by the Razorbacks. USC gained only 139 yards on 27 yards. Decori Birmingham led Arkansas with 81 yards. 6 ^■ter struggling at times this ^^eason, placekicker Daniel Weaver has made six straight field goals. He hit two against the Razorbacks, a 43-yarder and a 35-yarder. BY JONATHAN HILLYARD THE GAMECOCK The USC football team (5-5,2-5 SEC) was denied bowl eligibility for the second week in a row last night, losing to the Arkansas Razorbacks (6-3,3-3) 28-6 in Little Rock, Ark. The loss leaves Carolina with two changes, against the Florida Gators and the Clemson Tigers, to get that sixth win that is necessary to avoid a second-straight year without a bowl appearance. It was a very frustrating night for the Gamecocks, as the team’s four turnovers were half as many as its season total. Offensively, Carolina moved the ball at times but simply could not put points on the board. Quarterback Dondrial Pinkins was the leading rusher for the Gamecocks, with 42 yards on eight carries. This was the first time this year that USC failed to score a touchdown. Defensively, the Gamecocks struggled for the fourth-straight week, giving up 375 yards—232 of • those came on the ground. For the Razorbacks, quarterback Matt Jones was very impressive, fin ishing 11 of 14 for 148 yards and three touchdowns. The Gamecock offense scored on all of the turnovers that the de fense forced except for one. The first half was a half of missed opportunities for Carolina. On the opening kickoff, Taqiy Muhammad stripped the football from the Arkansas re turner, and USC recovered. Carolina could not move the foot ball. though, and went three-and out, which led to a 43-yard Daniel Weaver field goal. After a few punts by both teams, Arkansas running back DeCori Birmingham broke away on a 51 yard touchdown run to make the score 7-3. Then things got crazy, as three of the next four drives ended in turnovers. The Gamecocks were responsible for two of these turnovers, one of which was a fumble by Troy Williamson at the Arkansas 5-yard line. The first half was concluded by a 12-play, 71-yard drive that end ed in a bootleg touchdown pass from Jones to Jason Peters to put Arkansas up 14-3. The bootleg hurt Carolina all night, as well as a three-headed rushing attack from the Razorbacks that netted 147 yards in the first half with 137 of those yards coming from rushes up the middle. The third quarter began with similar misfortune for the Gamecocks. On the first play from scrimmage, Carolina lost its leading rusher, Demetris Summers, to a neck injury. After a three-and-out and a Carolina punt, Jones again led Arkansas on an 11-play, 67-yard touchdown drive in which it was 3-for-3 on third downs. The touchdown came on a 36-yard pass that cor nerback Teddy Crawford let slide through his hands. This put USC in a 21-3 hole. After a USC field goal, Arkansas looked to put a dagger in the Gamecocks’ heart when it inter cepted Pinkins for the second time. However, Razorback linebacker Jimarr Gallon was stripped by of fensive lineman Jabari Levi, and the Gamecocks regained posses sion. Unfortunately, USC could not take advantage of the opportunity and went three-and-out. The persistency of the Arkansas Razorback offense took over from that point as Jones led his troops on an eight-play, 48 yard drive to storm to a 28-6 lead. The drive included more pound ing from the Arkansas running game and the unstoppable bootleg from Jones, who capped the drive off with a 9-yard pass to George Wilson. Carolina tried to mount a drive but was stuffed in the red zone again by the Razorback defense. The game ended as Arkansas ran the clock out for the victory. The Gamecocks will have a long week of preparation before they return home on Nov. 15 against the 17th-ranked Florida Gators. The game will be televised at 12:30 p.m. on Jefferson-Pilot Sports. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecocksports@hotmail.com FILE PHOTO BY JOHNNY HAYNES/THE GAMECOCK USC quarterback Dondrial Pinkins drops back in a game earlier this season. He finished with 180 yards passing and two interceptions against Arkansas on Thursday. He also led the team in rushing with 42 yards. Volleyball defeats Kentucky, prepares for Vols H_I_-_j_I FILE PHOTO BY MARK SCHILLING/THE GAMECOCK Niece Curry and Shonda Cole attempt a block against LSU earlier this season. USC will take on Tennessee on Sunday. BY WES WOLFE THE GAMECOCK The USC volleyball team pulled but a remarkable win at Kentucky on Tuesday, improving to 12-13 and 6-7 in the SEC. The Wildcats (13-12, 5-8 SEC) played Carolina tough in the final three games of the four-game match, forcing USC to score five consecutive points to win game four and the match. “This was a big win for us, es pecially with it being on the road,” USC head coach Kim Hudson Christopher said. “Kentucky is al ways tough to play, and this was a big win. We had some important blocks by Lauren (Ford), Niece (Curry) and Shonda (Cole) in game four.” The Gamecocks won the first game easily, 30-19. The error prone USC team put it all together, allowing only two errors while hit ting 13 kills and five service aces. An ace by middle blocker Ford won the game for Carolina, and things looked good as the team moved into the second game. However, the immaculate per formance in game one couldn’t be sustained, and USC hit for -.023, notching only 12 kills to counter its 13 errors. The Gamecocks only lost to Kentucky 30-28, though, since the Wildcats had only 12 kills for their 11 errors. Clutch plays by Ford and outside hitter Sarah Morgan helped Carolina put away Kentucky in games three and four. USC had a 29-28 advantage in the third game when Ford had a solo block, winning the point and the game. Game four was tied 29-29 when Kentucky’s Amy Kaplan missed the mark and committed an error, giving Carolina a 30-29 lead and an opportunity to win the game. Morgan made a kill on the next play, winning the match. With the win, the Gamecocks leave the cellar of the SEC East and jump into fourth place behind Georgia. USC looks to build on the Kentucky victory when it takes on Tennessee at home. Beating the Lady Volunteers (17-7, 7-5 SEC) won’t be an easy task, since UT is second in the SEC East and beat Carolina 3-1 on 0<;t. 10 in Knoxville. However, Tennessee is only 1 3 in its past three matches, losing two of those on the road to Arkansas and LSU. The Lady Vols also haven’t won an away match since playing in the Blue Demon Invitational at DePaul in September and have yet to win an SEC match on the road, while Carolina is 3-1 at home against SEC opponents. Before Tennessee tries to beat USC on the road, UT, ironically, will try to take care of Kentucky in Lexington tonight. The Lady Vols are coming off a 3-0 win against Georgia at home, going into this weekend’s match es. Middle blocker Sarah Blum had an exceptional match, record ing 11 blocks. Blum’s performance broke the previous individual block record at UT’s Stokely Athletics Center. The freshman leads the team in blocks with 17 solo blocks and 119 blocks overall. The next-closest player is middle blocker Kristen Andre, who only has seven solo blocks and 79 over all blocks. Andre leads the team in kills at 287 and hitting average at .371. The player in second place with kills, Outside hitter Amy Morris, should be a target for the Gamecocks since she has also hit 142 errors on the season. USC will play host to Tennessee on Sunday at 1:30 p.m. at the Volleyball Competition Facility. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecocksports@hotmail.com BRIEFLY USC swimming and diving heads to LSU The USC men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams (both 1-2) are in Louisiana today to take on LSU in Baton Rouge. This is the Gamecocks’ first SEC meet in the season, and the team looks to turn things around from its Oct. 31 loss to Virginia at home. ^omen’s soccer falls to Tennessee The USC women’s soccer team was shown the door early in the SEC Tournament when No. l seed Tennessee beat the No. 8 seed Gamecocks 1-0. The match’s only goal came on a penalty kick by UT’s Ali Christoph in the 64th minute. The penalty kick came on a call when Lyndsey Patterson of Tennessee and defender Alison Jarrow battled over the ball. The Gamecocks had a chance to win, but a shot by midfielder Shelly Hoddeson was saved through a diving catch by Tennessee goalkeeper Vanessa Phillips-Bosshart, who stretched out and grabbed the bah. “It’s definitely a tough way to lose,” said USC head coach Shelley Smith. “It’s an unfortu nate call and in a situation like that, it’s the referee’s decision, but a lot of times it could have gone the other way.” The loss ends USC’s 2003 cam paign, which finishes at 10-8-3 overall and 3-5-2 in the SEC. Men’s soccer team to face No. 13 UNC The USC men’s soccer team (8-6-2) will go toe-to-toe with the Tar Heels of North Carolina at home Saturday in a battle of the Carolinas. The Gamecocks lost last season’s match in Chapel Hill, N.C., 2-0. UNC is 11-3-3 overall and 2-3 1 in the ACC this season, losing to Clemson and Wake Forest in its last two games. They were the first losses that North Carolina has suffered since dropping a 1-0 decision at Virginia on Sept. 21. Forward Marcus Storey will be sure to cause problems for the USC defense. Storey leads UNC in goals with six and is second in shots with 39 and tied for sec ond in assists with three on the season. Another headache will be ev idenced in UNC forward Jamie Watson, who leads the team in assists with five and shots with 51. USC takes on UNC at 7 p.m. Saturday at Eugene E. Stone UI Stadium. This is the last game of the regular season for the Tar Heels and the second-to-last game of th^season for USC. SPORTS CHALLENGE THE CHALLENGE: Brad Wes Charles Adam Morgan Jonathan The Gamecock’s readers and Senklw Wolfe Tomlinson Beam Ford Couch staff test their sports knowledge Sports Asst. Sports Editor in Managing Photo Reader of with predictions of the Editor Editor Chief Editor Editor the Week weekend’s games. (Rankings (60-40) (58-42) (58-42) (68-32) (62-38) (55-43) are from The Associated Press.) 20 Ole Miss at Auburn Auburn Ole Miss Ole Miss Ole Miss Auburn Auburn 14 Mich. St. at 7 Ohio St.Ohio State Mich. State Ohio State Ohio State Ohio State’ Ohio State 18 Tennessee at 6 MiamiMiami_MiamiTenn. Miami Tenn.Miami Wisconsin at 24 Minnesota Minnesota Minnesota Minnesota Wisconsin Minnesota Minnesota 11 Texas at 21 Oklahoma St. Texas Texas Texas Texas Texas Texas 10 Iowa at 16 Purdue_Purdue Iowa_Purdue Purdue Purdue Purdue W. Virginia at Boston College B.C. B.C. B.C._ W.Va._W.Va._W.Va. Fresno St. at Nevada_Nevada Nevada Nevada Fresno St. Nevada Fresno St. 3 Florida St. at Clemson_ Fla. State Fla. State Fla^State Fla. State Fla. State Fla. State USC at Arkansas USC USC USC USC Arkansas USC 20-16 34-31 24-13 28-21 28-14 17-13 SPORTS CHALLENGE’S 10TH-WEEK OUTLOOK: Sports Editor Brad Senkiw has risen from the ashes and won last week’s challenge by going 7-3, defeating the reader of the week with a tiebreaker. Assistant Sports Editor Wes Wolfe and Managing Editor Adam Beam both finished in second at 6-4, while Mary Waters and Editor in Chief Charles Tomlinson went a measly 4-6. Beam continues to have the overall advantage, but Senkiw and the selected staff member are looking to catch the leader. Be sure to get your picks in next week by Thursday at 2 p.m. WANT TO BE READER OF THE WEEK? E-mail your selections next week to gamecocksports@hotmail.com. If you’re picked and have the best record, you’ll win a free Gamecock T-shirt and be able to talk all the trash you want ? * 1