COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina volleyball was able to celebrate an important win and a historic milestone in a Sunday sweep of Tennessee (10-9, 4-5 SEC). The Gamecocks (13-7, 4-5 SEC) were not only able to end their home stand with a victory, they also saw graduate middle blocker Ellie Ruprich collect two of the biggest stuffs of her career.
The Michigan native took sole possession of the rally scoring era record for career total blocks in the first set, then became the third woman in program history and first since 1989 to reach 500 career blocks after a set-clinching stop in set two.
1st SET: South Carolina was clicking from the opening moments of the match and rode a long serving run by freshman Victoria Harris to a 25-12 win. The Volunteers were forced into an early timeout after a solo block from Alayna Johnson made it 8-4 in favor of the home side. Johnson would power the offense as well in the opening game, putting away six kills compared to Tennessee’s seven as a team. The big move came out of a 14-11 score, Harris’ tough service yielded a 10-0 scoring run to put a pin in the Vols. South Carolina hit .355 as a team with three different players putting down three or more kills, Tennessee finished the set with more attacking errors (8) than kills (7).
2nd SET: Both sides were swinging away in set two, but it would be service errors for Tennessee that were key in a 29-27 victory for South Carolina. The Gamecocks held a 15-14 lead at the first break of the set, and from that point on, neither team would score more than two points consecutively. The Gamecocks had the first set-point opportunity after a Ruprich block made it a 24-23 score, but Tennessee scored the next two points to flip the set opportunity to its favor. The visitors were unable to take advantage, though, committing what would be their seventh serving error of the set in what would be their only chance at clinching the win. Out of a 27-all tie, Riley Whitesides put away her seventh kill of the set for the lead and Tireh Smith and Ruprich teamed up for the clinching block the following point.
3rd SET: The final game would be almost completely different from the second, the two teams opted to trade off multi-point runs until late in the set, won 25-23 by South Carolina. The Gamecocks opened on a 7-2 run, then the Vols answered with seven straight points to take back the lead. The next five would go for Carolina, thanks in large part to two service aces by Whitesides, but…