Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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. GAME SCHEDULE pa_p I ? WOMEN’S SOCCER at Maryland, 4:30 p.m. Friday wj a c . u o mn,. VOLLEYBALL at Duke, 7 p.m. Friday Wednesday, September 8, 2004 MEN’S SOCCER vs. Bucknell, 7:30 p.m. Friday Gamecocks-Tigers rivalry reignites By STEPHEN DEMEDIS THE GAMECOCK USC’s volleyball team defeated Clemson Tuesday night in three games in the first match-up of the year between the two South Carolina schools. In what has become one of the nation’s oldest and strongest rivalries in college sports, the Gamecocks and Tigers faced each other on 15 occasions last year with Clemson winning 12 times. For many USC athletes, the Clemson game is the biggest of the season and has the pressure of a championship game. Sarah Morgan, a junior outside hitter on the volleyball team, said, “Clemson is the piost built-up game of the season, even though they are not in our conference. It is the first question people ask you: ‘Did you beat Clemson?’” While the Clemson game does not impact the team’s conference standings, the game often affects the momentum a team takes into conference play as the rivals usually meet early in the season. “Two years ago, we beat Clemson here (in Columbia), and it made us state champs,” Morgan said. “That was one thing we had on them and from there, we went on to have a good season.” The volleyball team’s impressive win over the in-state rivals is a huge turnaround from last year, when a USC team did not beat the Tigers until the men’s basketball teams squared off in December. It was only one of three victories Carolina had on its number one foe all year. But now, Carolina is off on the right foot and has the chance to give Clemson a run for its money in a yearlong athletic contest. The men’s basketball team has never lost to Clemson under head coach Dave Odom. Last year, they defeated the Tigers, 76-61, managing to hold Clemson to fewer points than the USC football team did. This year’s team is not as big and experienced as last year’s squad but appears to have the talent and attitude to get back to the NCAA Tournament. Clemson finished last in the ACC with a 10-18 record. The Tigers will come to Columbia on Dec. 4 as the underdogs. Along with the basketball team, the baseball team found victory against the Tigers. Two of the better programs in the country split a four-game series. Carolina over came injuries and a midseason slump to win the Super Regionals in the College World Series. Despite losing several starters, .Carolina should return to the top five in college programs. If Carolina can avoid injuries, the series between the two schools will not be even for two straight years. Both soccer programs dropped a game to Clemson by a score of 1-0 with the women’s team losing in overtime. Both of the Tigers’ programs were ranked in the top 25 coming into this season with the women ranked fourth. The USC men’s team is starting off strong once again, but Clemson has the upper hand historically, leading the series 20-10-1. The women are an impressive 4-1. This year, the two teams meet in Columbia with the women playing Sept. 15 and the men playing Oct. 10. The USC women’s basketball team also lost in overtime to Clemson by four points. This season the team returns a majority of starters and will benefit from home court advantage. The darkest moment for USC sports came last year when the Carolina and Clemson football teams squared off in a lopsided contest. Clemson left Columbia victorious, 63-17, in the worst routing in USC history. Now, Lou Holtz’s team has to respond. The Gamecocks opened their season by dismantling Vanderbilt, 31-6. Clemson is ranked 18th in the coaches’ poll after an ♦ Please see RIVALRY, page 14 ....■■■in —$_ KATIE KIRKLAND/THE GAMECOCK Sophomore setter Katelyn Panzau goes for a kill in game one of the Gamecocks’ match with Clemson Wednesday. USC won the matches 30-24, 30-22, 30-23. Volleyball sweeps Upstate opponent Rivalry game sets attendance record with 1,965 fans in first-ever Colonial Center showdown By MEGAN GIBSON THE GAMECOCK The Gamecock women’s volleyball team is quickly getting accustomed to playing on a new court as USC crushed the Clemson Tigers last night in three games (30-24, 30-22,30-23) in front of a USC record attendance for volleyball. This was the first time volleyball had ever been played in the new arena. The Colonial Center housed 1,965 fans, a record for both USC and the state of South Carolina at a volleyball match. Head coach Kim Hudson believes the energetic atmosphere helped lead ,the Gamecocks to their victory last night. “The Colonial center is large, but volleyball doesn’t get lost in it,” Hudson said. “It was a good environment.” After last year’s disappointing loss at Clemson (31-33, 26-30, 30-22, 30-26), the Gamecocks were prepared for a tough re match. This along with the Clemson- Carolina rivalry provided motivation for the Gamecocks to play a strong match from the first point to the last. “We used the loss last year as motivation,” Hudson said. “Now we can relax and have our season. The team did a very good job this year.” USC started out game one keeping the score close for the first 20 points, never trailing or leading by more than three. The Tigers pulled slightly ahead when they found a hole in the middle of the defense, but the Gamecocks were quick to adjust and never let the Tigers lead by much. “The team has done a good job strategically being better volleyball players,” Hudson said. “They are able to identify the mistakes early and adjust to fix them.” Setter and right-side hitter Katelyn Panzau controlled much of the first game with eight assists and .400 kill percentage. The Gamecock offense was led by outside hitter Shonda Cole and right-side hitter Lynae Vanden Hull, each with four kills. In the end, a serving streak by Cole pulled her team away from its 21-21 tie to bring the Gamecocks to 25-21. This gave USC the momentum to wrap up game one with two powerful kills by middle blocker Lauren Ford from assists from setter Iris Santos. The Gamecocks gained enormous energy from their performance and the crowd to come out strong in game two. In game two, the Gamecocks fell behind early when Clemson’s Sue Eckman served five points in a row to lead USC, 9-5. However, the Gamecocks turned the score back around immediately when Santos went on a serving streak of her own, bringing the team back within one point with a score of 10-9. The chemistry between Ford and Santos was again apparent in game two, with Ford leading the way with seven kills and a .417 kill percentage. Clemson’s Meghan Stanton kept her team close to the Gamecocks with her impressive back row defense, earning nine defensive digs single handedly. However a streak of unforced errors by the Tigers led them to a 21-16 deficit that could not be made up. Sophomore Alexeis Thomson finished out the game with an impressive five-in-a-row serving streak, including two aces to bring the Gamecocks to a 30-22 win. The adrenaline from the first two games allovyed USC to come out strong for game three. Quick sets by Panzua kept the Clemson defense one step behind and led the Gamecocks to an early lead that the Tigers never made up. Cole led the USC offense with seven kills and an impressive .636 kill percentage. The Gamecocks were also unstoppable at the net on defense. Panzua and Ford both had two block assists, while Miller and Cole added one each. Vanden Hull and Thomson both had impressive serving streaks of seven and five, respectively, that allowed the Gamecocks to pull away. Thomson served her second ace to make the score 19-8, giving USC the biggest lead of the night. A series of unforced errors by the Gamecocks allowed Clemson to shorten the lead to 23-18, but that was as close as the Tigers would come. USC then pulled away, led by kills from Panzua and Cole to win the third game 30-23 and the match. Comments an this story? E-mail gamecocksports@gwm.sc.edu Carolina aside, I’m ready for football ■ NFL season should be just as exciting as a Williams-Brice Saturday Seeing as how the hot topic of the week is USC football, especially after Saturday’s 31-6 win over Vanderbilt and ESPN EGameDay’s impending visit to campus, 1 think it’s totally appropriate that I talk about something else entirely. Arc Nothing WALLACE would make FIFTH-YEAR ®e happier PRINT than to ponder JOURNALISM aloud the STUDENT ... . r a possible victory over Georgia this weekend, but for reasons beyond my control, that just won’t happen today. And since I’m in a prognosticating sort of mood, I’m going to go ahead and make some predictions anyway. What about the NFL? Well, I think the Patriots aren’t as unbeatable as everyone thinks they are. Sure, their coach is a genius, their quarterback always finds ways to win games and they’ve added a franchise running back to their arsenal. I just don’t think they’ll go 14-2 again. I don’t think the Eagles will make the playoffs this year. Everyone seems to think they’re a lock for the Super Bowl with the addition of Terrell Owens and Jevon Kearse, but they seem to forget about their lack of a running game and a secondary. I’ve never been a fan of T.O., and watching him complain all season is going to be lots of fun. /vna since i m a rantners ran, 1 think we’ll make the playoffs and make another run at the Super Bowl, but that all depends on how the offensive line shapes up. That’s really their only weakness as long as they stay healthy. I enjoy college football way more than I enjoy the NFL. Fans are more loyal to their schools, more people come to the games and it just has an atmosphere about it that the NFL will never equal. I think With the rise of fantasy football and Madden video games, more and more people are caring less and less about teams and focusing on individual players. It’s an interesting trend when you take into consideration the concept of free agency and the decline of loyalty in professional sports, both by players and ownership. 1-think people are more excited about the always-hilarious batch of commercials that come out for football season than they are about the actual games. I think I’m glad I can stop pretending to care about Major League Baseball and can go back to ♦ Please see WALLACE, page 14 nemesis: one that inflicts retribution or vengeance HEAD to HEAD Women’s Soccer Sept. 15|k Cross Country Sept. 18 : Men’s Soccer Oct. 10 Men’s Swimming , , Nov. 5 , Women’s Swimming Nov. 5 Football Nov. 20 Women’s Basketball Dec. 3 Men’s Basketball Dec. 4 More Events TBA