The Lady Vols volleyball team suffered a tough setback Friday night as they wound up on the short end of a 3-0 marathon against a tough South Carolina team at Stokely Athletics Center.
We really knew that Tennessee would fight hard for this match, said South Carolina head coach Kim Christopher. This is a big win for us to come in and get it in three games.
Tennessee did fight hard against the favored Gamecocks. However, USC swept the Lady Vols, 15-13, 15-10, 15-12.
The fiery Gamecocks took command of the match early as they bolted out to a 7-2 lead in the first game. However, the determined Lady Vols would not give in. Tennessee fought back to rattle USC but the Gamecocks prevailed 15-13.
We actually played okay, we just made some errors at the wrong time, Tennessee coach Rob Patrick said. We started off slow and we weren’t going after the ball like we needed to against a good team.
Once the Lady Vols got over the early slump, the emotions started to flow from both squads as every point ended in explosive celebration.
Tennessee is a team that we have to play very well to beat, Christopher said. That’s why we were excited. The excitement comes because this was a big win for us.
South Carolina’s aggressive play carried over into the second game as they took a 4-0 lead to begin the contest. Once again, Tennessee scrapped for points but USC was too much as they took game two 15-10.
Game three gave the Lady Vols a little momentum as they took advantage of an early 2-0 lead. Both teams battled throughout the game but the Gamecocks took the third game 15-12.
South Carolina was led by a handful of players starting with setter Megan Hosp. Hosp recorded 55 assists and nine kills while hitting .412. Cally Plummer totaled 16 kills, followed by Milica Perovic’s 14.
Leading the Lady Vols was outside hitter Ariana Wilson who totaled 23 kills and five blocks for Tennessee. Freshman middle blocker Trinia Cuseo also played well on the front line as she had 13 kills and five blocks while compiling a team-high .440.
The Gamecocks had a .277 hitting percentage compared to Tennessee’s .216.
When you play a good team and you’re not playing on all cylinders, you lose by two or three points, Patrick said. I’m just disappointed by the mistakes that we made on our side of the net.
South Carolina is off to its best start ever in the conference with a 19-4, 10-1 SEC mark. Tennessee fell to 20-6, 8-4 SEC.
The Lady Vols are off until Friday when they host the Kentucky Wildcats at 7 p.m. in Stokely Athletics Center. Friday will be the last home contest of the season and fans are encouraged to come out to try and break the single-game attendance record.
