The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, November 08, 2004, Page 10, Image 10
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.
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■ 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.
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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.”
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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.
Western Carolina
Winthrop
TempleV
Arkansas
Auburpf
Kentucky
'
Florida
Missisippi
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