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Volleyball falls to LSU, demolishes Razorbacks by MIUUcL JAUUbb THE GAMECOCK Despite a prior setback against LSU, the USC volleyball team followed the footsteps of the football team this weekend in defeating Arkansas in a vital, televised conference match. The split weekend keeps USC in contention for the SEC Tournament as their record stands at 12-11 and 5-9 in conference play. The LSU Tigers (14-9, 6-7 SEC) signed a pair of transfer players last season that have both contributed greatly to their turn around this season. Juniors Ivana Kuzmic and Jelena Mijatovic once again proved too much, guiding the Tigers to their third straight win against USC. The loss also was the fifth in a row for USC. USC was in trouble from the start in game one as Shonda Cole’s kill to open the match was the only lead USC would hold. It was all LSU from then as the Tigers breezed to claim the game 23-30 on solid efforts from all of their starters. Game two also went right for the Tigers as Mijatovic began by recording four straight service aces. Mijatovic was a thorn in the Gamecocks’ side the entire night, finishing with nine service aces which ties for third all-time in a four game match for LSU. Trailing early, Carolina was not able to pull back and dropped the game 19-30 and allowing LSU to hit a match high .437 percentage. Experimenting with a new lineup, Carolina quickly pulled ahead in game three on the play of Cole, who had eight kills in Carolina’s only winning game. After allowing the 1 lgers to reclaim the lead at the halfway point, the Gamecocks fed on energy from the crowd to come back and take the game 30-23. Visibly frustrated, the Tigers could not find the momentum they needed to once again pull ahead at the start of game four. Sophomore Iris Santos led USC to a 23 23 tie late in the game as another rally was in the making, but the Tiger spirit couldn’t be broken as they claimed the game 26-30 to win the match. “We had some sparks throughout the match but it wasn’t consistent enough,” USC head coach Kim Hudson ‘said after the match. “In games three and four we played better as a team but it was too late.” With the cameras for Fox Sports Net in Columbia to televise the SEC Match of the Week, Carolina would not have to worry about coming on too late as they swept SEC West-leading Arkansas (13 12, 9-5 SEC) to end a five-game losing streak. In the second televised match of the season for Carolina, the Gamecocks once again put on a show for the cameras, defeating the Lady ‘Backs 30-23, 20-27 and 30-22. The Lady ‘Backs entered the match as the second-best blocking team in the conference, and their trio of net players did not disappoint early as Arkansas climbed to an early 15-21 lead. Sensing the game slipping away, team kills leader Cole led a streak of kills to pull Carolina back within one. A service ace by junior Lauren Ford moments later energized the crowd as the Gamecocks relied on a series of team blocks Arkansas errors to end the game on a 15-2 scoring run. Arkansas committed 11 errors in the game en route to hitting -.029, a match low. Both teams struggled to find momentum in the second game until Arkansas pulled ahead 19-25, seemingly enough to claim a split going into the break. However, Carolina again ended the game hot, this time amassing an 11-2 scoring run led by Sarah Morgan as the Gamecocks stole another game heading to the break. The crowd began sensing the sweep and let the Lady ‘Backs know it by staying active throughout the third game. After beginning slowly, the crowd of 288 sounded like 500 as the Gamecocks kept scoring improbable points. With nothing on their side but mistakes, Arkansas all but conceded defeat as Carolina swept another high-profile team on television to keep its tournament hopes alive. “This win will help build confidence; any win is important,” a pleased Hudson said. “It’s a little coincidental that we won both televised games ... these girls don’t shy away from a photo opportunity.” Middle blocker Ford’s five block assists on the weekend leave her one shy of becoming the seventh Gamecock to record 100 in a season. Sophomore Katelyn Panzau also set a season-high 37 assists for a three game match. The Gamecocks next play Florida and Georgia on the road in the last games before the SEC Tournament. Comments on this story? E-mail gamecocksports@gwm.sc. edu ■ SOCCER Continued from page 9 South Africa had an outstanding game, earning an assist on each of Coastal’s first two goals. Khumalo’s shot sailed past Brad Guzan and into the back of the net from 20 yards out. USC was unable to score in the final 49 seconds and suffered a heartbreaking defeat heading into a matchup with Alabama A&M on Sunday. For a while, it looked like history was going to repeat itself against the Bulldogs of A&M, only this time it was the Gamecocks who capitalized on a late goal-scoring opportunity. Early on in the contest Carolina again found itself down by two goals, trying to fight back for a win. After only five minutes of play A&M was on the scoreboard. Freshman Justin Vaughter scored on a nice assist from Henry Kabeta, which gave the Bulldogs an early lead. Fifteen minutes later Kabeta took the task into his own hands and scored the second goal of the contest, putting the 2-10-2 Bulldogs up 2-0 with only 21 minutes of play. Mike Sambursky again started the charge for USC, grabbing his third goal of the season in the 39th minute of an assist from versatile junior Josh Alcala. Sambursky leads the team in shots taken and after this weekend is now in a tie for third place in points with ten. The first half ended with the Gamecocks trailing by one and with plenty of room for improvement. A fast start in the second half led to a corner kick in the 65th minute that tied the game at two. Lindholm again came up big for Carolina as his corner kick sailed straight to the head of sophomore defender Makan Hislop. Hislop scored his first goal of the season and second of his career, tying the game and giving the team momentum for the remainder of the match. With a little over two minutes to play, USC had a chance to come away with a win and junior Eric Szeszycki remained perfect on the year. Coming NICK ESARES/THE GAMECOCK Katelyn Panzau, right, sets the ball fora teammate in Friday’s loss to the LSI) Tigers. USC came back to defeat Arkansas on Sunday. i into the game Szeszycki had converted on all three of his penalty kick attempts, and got the chance to make it four out of four. Szeszycki nailed it and in doing so cemented a Gamecock win as well as all tournament honors alongside his teammate Lindholm. USC leaves the tournament with an 11-6-1 record and likely NCAA Tournament berth. The Gamecocks play their final game of the season Nov. 14 at the Graveyard. The Gamecocks will face future Conference USA foe Florida International at 1 p.m. Comments on this stony ? E-mail gamecockspoits@gwm.sc. eda ■ BOWLING Continued from page 12 spreading within the media of Holtz’s future at USC, the coach made it very clear he was thinking about one thing and one thing only: winning. - “Our goal is to win a championship,” Holtz said after the game. “I see the culture changing. (This win) is big for the program and the future. Don’t bury me just yet.” Comments on this stmy? E-mail gamecocksports@gwm.sc. edu ■ BROOM Continued from page 9 first to say that Ko Simpson is my hero. That is all I can really say about that right now, I’m still in full-fledged victory celebration mode. After the game a few of my friends decided to call me and make fun of me for missing the best game of the year. “Don’t you feel like an idiot? You missed the best game of the year.” Of course I don’t feel like an idiot, idiot. If I had been there it wouldn’t have been the best game of the year. In other news, I’d like to do a follow-up on one of my earlier columns. I wrote about how horrible the programming at ESPN and ESPN2 had been lately, and recently I turned on my television to discover that they were showing sometnmg even worse man poxer on ESPN. We’re talking Scrabble. Seriously. Scrabble. I immediately gouged out my own eyes with a Dorito . and dropkicked my television out of the window. I felt so betrayed. Never again will I trust ESPN. Never again. ■ CLARY Continued from page 12 last. He got good pressure up the middle on Jones and the future looks good for our D-Line. Two other guys also had very good games and continue to get better and better. Watching Demetris Summers drag guys all over the field will never get old. Meat continues to be impressive and is proving to all the doubters how good he actually is. Noah Whiteside had his best game of the season Saturday. He only had three catches, but his elusiveness on the final drive was a very key factor. With Whiteside and Williamson, anything is possible. Now that we are going bowling, we can play more relaxed and be motivated to improve our BqwI status instead of trying to get bowl eligible. I have no doubt we can win the next two games and pofcsibly return to 4 familiar home in Tampa. But let’s just take it one game at a time. 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