DOUBLE TROUBLE IN THE MIDDLE
Last fall, South Carolina’s ranked 21st nationally in blocks per set (2.63), thanks in large part to its middles, Ellie Ruprich and Oby Anadi. Ruprich is just the third player since 1983 to lead the team in blocks in each of their first three seasons – pacing the team again in 2022 with a career-high 130 total blocks. Anadi exploded in her first full season in the lineup, recording 120 blocks. It’s the fourth time since 1999 that the Gamecocks had two players hit triple-digit blocks in a season. Since the rally scoring era started in 2001, only the 2005 team’s average of 3.02 blocks per set is higher and only in one season (2014) has the team finished with as many games with 10 or more total blocks – both the 2014 and 2022 teams had 14.
The story continues in 2023, as South Carolina enters the weekend ranked 26th nationally in blocks per set (2.57), second in the SEC. Anadi (1.33 blocks per set) ranks fourth in the SEC and 27th nationally and Ruprich (1.05 blocks per set) ranks tenth and 158th, respectively.
RUPRICH CHASING MORE MILESTONES
Senior middle blocker Ellie Ruprich matched her career high for blocks with five games left in the 2022 season and finished with 130 for the season, good for third in the program’s single-season record book. Ruprich also went over 300 total blocks for her career last November, making her the sixth woman in the rally scoring era (since 2001) to reach that milestone. Currently, the Beverly Hills, Michigan native is on the cusp of some rarely contested records. In the rally scoring record book, Ruprich is in range of the solo block record (currently with 87, needs 95) and is 10 total blocks away from reaching 400. On Sept. 24 at Missouri, she moved past Belita Salters (2005-08) for third place on the career total blocks list, now with 375. Only seven women in the program’s 50 seasons have reached that milestone.
NEW ‘BRO, SAME AS THE OLD ‘BRO
Despite 2022 SEC Libero of the Year Jenna Hampton’s departure, the team has a familiar face back in the libero role for 2023. Junior Morgan Carter served in the role as a freshman in 2021, the only true freshman to ever earn the role for Carolina. She finished with 3.22 digs per set and 18 service aces that year. After a year away, she currently is averaging 4.19 digs per set – fourth-best in the SEC – with a pace that would put her comfortably in the program’s single-season top-10 list for both total and average digs. Carter…