COLUMBIA, S.C. – After a weekend on the road to open the season, South Carolina volleyball (3-1) opened a seven-game home stand with a three-set win against Temple (3-2) Friday night. Graduate student Riley Whiteside led the Gamecocks offense with 15 kills and freshman Victoria Harris anchored the defense with 15 digs.
1st SET: After quick back-and-forth play to start the game, South Carolina broke away by capitalizing off Temple errors and playing strong defense. With the Gamecocks up 7-6, the pace for the reminder of the game was set as its defense settled in. Sophomore Tireh Smith and senior Oby Anadi put down back-to-back blocks to put an exclamation point on a 4-0 run to make it 13-8, part of a total of five blocks in the set for the defense. The Owls finished the set with 10 attack errors in total, compared to just three for the Gamecocks. The efficient offense kept the home side in front the rest of the way in a 25-17 victory.
2nd SET: The second set remained close throughout the start, but similar to the first set, Temple’s offensive errors put it in a hole in another 25-17 score. After allowing the first two points of the set to the Owls, South Carolina used tough service behind the line and another strong defensive effort to take the lead back early and keep it the rest of the way. The team finished with three service aces – two from junior Sarah Jordan – and leaned on five more kills from Whitesides to power the offense. After three blocks from Smith led the defense in set one, graduate student Ellie Ruprich led the way with two solo blocks. Her second stuff of the set forced a Temple timeout after extending the team’s lead to 18-12, the Owls would get no close than four points the rest of the set.
3rd SET: The Owls returned to the court in the third set determined to extend the match, opening on a 4-0 scoring run to force a quick timeout from South Carolina. Out of the break, the Gamecocks answered with back-to-back points and soon regained the lead after a service error by Temple, the first of four it would have in the set. Whiteside clinched her second double-double in as many games after posting a game-high six kills in the third set and adding two digs to push her to 10 for the night. Her 15th and final kill clinched the set and match, a 25-16 final score.
NOTABLE
- Friday night marked 28 years to the day since the Gamecocks played their first game in the Carolina Volleyball Center. On Sept. 6, 1996, future South…