COLUMBIA, S.C. – A historic night behind the service line guided South Carolina to a four-set win over Clemson (2-1) on Wednesday night. The Gamecocks (2-1) handed the Tigers their first loss of the fall thanks to a 13-1 advantage in service aces and 13 blocks from the defense. The win pushes South Carolina’s home win streak over Clemson to its 30th year, spanning 11 games.
1st SET: The serving game disparity was evident from the jump, as South Carolina used two aces and four Tiger service errors to overcome a slow offensive start and take the opening set, 25-20. The Tigers finished with more kills (13-11) but were more inefficient than the Gamecocks, hitting just. 146 thanks to three blocks by the home side with Oby Anadi having a hand in all three. South Carolina never trailed in the set and leaned on a solid line of four kills on six swings from senior Riley Whitesides to take the 1-0 lead.
2nd SET: The Tiger offense locked in for the second set, building a big lead early before another streak behind the service line threatened to flip the score in Carolina’s favor. Clemson opened up a 19-10 lead with 15 of those 19 points coming on kills alone, but the Gamecocks started creeping back and used a 12-3 run from there to ultimately tie the set at 22. In that run, three points came off service aces alone, including two from freshman Sydney Floyd. Following a block from Anadi, the Gamecocks found themselves with a set-point opportunity at 24-23, but weren’t able to close out. Clemson took a 29-27 win after three unforced errors from South Carolina down the stretch.
3rd SET: In the always-crucial third set, the serve game was the x-factor for South Carolina as it moved ahead 2-1 with a 25-15 win. Combining four aces with three service errors by Clemson, the Gamecocks scored almost a third of their points behind the line. South Carolina’s defense also was key, going from allowing Clemson to hit .342 in the second set to just .065 in the third, with five total blocks. On offense, Lauren McCutcheon accounted for half of the team’s 10 total kills, needing just nine swings to get her five for the set.
4th SET: South Carolina closed out the win with a 25-19 win in the fourth, again having Clemson out of sorts offensively thanks to its serving game. The Tigers had a match-low eight kills and hit .032, with three block assists from Ellie Ruprich frustrating Clemson’s attack when they were in-system offensively. McCutcheon cracked double-digits…