BATON ROUGE, LA. – South Carolina volleyball faces just one opponent in week eight of SEC play, traveling to LSU for a midweek match on Wednesday, Nov. 13. It is the halfway point in a five-game stretch of road games in November. The Gamecocks (13-9, 4-7) aim to break up a six-game losing streak on the road in this series, dating back to 2021. Three have gone to five sets, three have been Tiger sweeps. South Carolina has won in Baton Rouge just once in the last 20 years, coming in three sets in 2016. First serve on Wednesday night is set for 8 p.m. ET with a broadcast on the SEC Network+.
SCOUTING THE TIGERS
LSU has battled through a similar schedule this fall and heads into Wednesday night with a 13-10 mark and stands just a half game above South Carolina with a 5-7 SEC record. The Tigers have leaned hard on the arm of sophomore Jurnee Robinson, who leads the conference with almost 12 attacks per set and stands eighth in the nation with 4.91 kills per set. Her average per set is more than the next two closest teammates, Lainee Pyles and Angelina Lee, combined. Defensively, LSU has five individuals in triple digits for digs, led by Aly Kirkhoff’s 266, and the middle combination of Angelina Lee and Jessica Jones have had a hand in 165 of the team’s 181 total blocks so far this fall.
WEEK ELEVEN NOTABLES
- South Carolina hit a season-low .073 with 25 kills at Arkansas on Friday, the lowest kill total since Oct. 29 2023 against LSU. The .073 hitting percentage is the lowest by the Gamecocks since their last trip to Fayetteville, on Sept. 22, 2023 (.018).
- Arkansas’ Olivia Ruy recorded a kill on each of her first 13 swings. She entered Friday with a single-game career high of 14 kills but surpassed that mid-way through the second set and finished the match with 17.
- The Razorbacks are the top-ranked team in the SEC for digs and flexed that muscle on Friday, out-digging the Gamecocks 66-43. It is the second-highest total by a Gamecock opponent so far this season, across any length of match.
- Alayna Johnson finished with a season-high 14 digs but was held without a kill until her 16th attack, coming late in the third set.
- Victoria Harris led the team with 15 digs, it is the third time this season that the freshman libero has 15 or more digs in a three-set match.
- Riley Whitesides led the offense with 12 kills, her season total of 314 pushes her into the top 20 for most in the rally scoring era with six games remaining.
- Missouri entered Sunday with one…