FLETCHER BUILDING OFF FINAL MONTH OF 2022
Senior Kiune Fletcher ended her junior season with numbers that blew her previous career totals out of the water. In November of 2022, totaling eight matches, Fletcher ranked second on the team in kills (with 65) while still providing valuable blocking numbers on the right pin.
The final run improved on her first half of SEC play where she hit .066 with 1.21 kills per set over ten games. Including her nine games played so far this fall, Fletcher is nearing the same stats over her last 19 matches that she had in the first 50 matches of her career…
First 50 games (138 sets)
128 kills, 41 digs, 58 blocks, 158 points
0.92 kills, 0.29 digs, 0.42 blocks and 1.14 points per set
Last 19 games (59 sets)
132 kills, 40 digs, 41 blocks, 156.5 points
2.24 kills, 0.68 digs, 0.69 blocks and 2.66 points per set
HIGHS AND LOWS AT THE NET
After ranking in the top-25 nationally for blocks last fall, South Carolina is still red-hot to start 2023, currently ranked 13th in the country with an average of 2.79 blocks per set with two players (Oby Anadi and Ellie Ruprich) ranked in the top-10 of the SEC. For as good as the Gamecock block has been, however, opponents have been close behind. Entering the week, South Carolina opponents are averaging 2.57 blocks per set when facing the Gamecocks, a number that would rank 32nd nationally if it were one team. This follows a 2022 season where opponents finished with 2.74 blocks per set, the highest single-season average for an opponent since the rally-scoring era began in 2001, surpassing the 2010 season’s opponent block average of 2.45 per set.
RUPRICH COLLECTS SEC WEEKLY AWARD
Senior middle blocker Ellie Ruprich earned the nod as Defensive Player of the Week for the SEC on Sept. 4, the team’s first honor of the season and the fourth weekly award of Ruprich’s career (2x Freshman of the Week, 2x Defensive). Ruprich disrupted all week for South Carolina, finishing with 25 total blocks in wins over Clemson, Miami and Troy. Ruprich averaged 1.92 blocks per set, almost matching the combined total of the three opposing teams over the course of the week. In the week’s opening match, against rival Clemson, Ruprich finished with eight blocks, two service aces, four digs and four kills over four sets. In the team’s five-set win over Miami on Friday night, she had seven more blocks with seven kills, and in the weekend finale against Troy she had 10 blocks, her third career match in…