ATHENS, GA. – South Carolina volleyball begins a busy week of SEC play on the road, taking on Georgia (9-3, 0-1 SEC, 5-3 Home) in Athens on Wednesday night at 7 p.m. The game will be the first national broadcast of the season for Carolina, airing on ESPNU with Drew Carter (play by play) and Shelby Coppedge (analyst) on the call.
The two teams have an affinity for long days against each another; in the first four seasons under head coach Tom Mendoza, the Gamecocks and Bulldogs have gone to five sets in four of the seven matches. South Carolina is 3-1 at Georgia under Mendoza, with the only loss coming in the last meeting back on Oct. 18, 2022.
FLORIDA SERIES NOTABLES
- South Carolina has at least one ranked win in five consecutive seasons, the longest streak on record in program history.
- On the 31st anniversary of South Carolina joining the SEC, the Gamecocks fittingly picked up their fourth victory over Florida as conference rivals and ninth win overall in the all-time series.
- The team’s 18 total blocks are tied for the most in a single game under head coach Tom Mendoza and most since Nov. 22, 2019 against Georgia. Overall, it is the fifth-highest single-game total in the rally-scoring era (since 2001).
- After reaching a career-high seven kills in the series opener, Anadi matched it again Sunday. The sophomore finished the weekend with 14 blocks in the nine sets, five coming on solo stuffs.
- Claire Wilson’s three service aces are a career high for the sophomore setter.
- Senior Camilla Covas added two more service aces Sunday, she now has five games this season with multiple aces and leads the team with 13 total.
- Florida finished with more kills (51-47) and a higher hitting percentage (.190 to .152) in Sunday’s match, marking the second time this season and just eighth time overall under Mendoza that the Gamecocks were out-hit in a match they would go on to win.
FLORIDA SERIES QUOTABLES
Head Coach Tom Mendoza on the team’s serving success in the match
“It took our offense a little bit of time to get going, obviously part of that is the things that Florida was doing and how they were able to disrupt us and put pressure on us and make us pay when we weren’t doing those things. It was a very clear ‘hey, when we’re doing the right things we can score, but as soon as we let up Florida is going to make us pay’, so it was a great lesson for us. I think our team both nights learned from that, what’s working, what’s not working, and were…