DURHAM, N.C. – A strong two-way effort helped Gamecock volleyball end the opening weekend of the season with a win, taking down Duke (1-2) in four sets to cap the three-day tournament in Cameron Indoor Stadium. Riley Whitesides led the offense with a career-high 23 kills and the defensive duo of Victoria Harris and Elizabeth McElveen combined for 40 digs to key the team.
1st SET: The Gamecocks (2-1) took the opening game by a 25-18 score, a credit to clean play on offense and defense. The offense committed just two errors over 37 attacks and finished with 15 kills, led by Riley Whitesides’ six. Duke trailed 15-8 at the first break of the set, but rallied to score a 5-1 run out of the break and would cut the deficit back to one point, 17-16, before South Carolina pulled away for good. The Gamecocks scored a 5-1 run of their own out of their called timeout, aided by kills from Whitesides, Alayna Johnson and Ellie Ruprich, along with two service errors from Duke. Errors behind the service line would be the key for the entire set, as the Blue Devils committed four compared to zero for Carolina, negating almost identical offensive numbers for the two sides.
2nd SET: The home side jumped out to an 8-4 lead in the second and were able to hold the Gamecocks off late to take a 28-26 decision that evened the match. South Carolina was able to tie the score at 9-9 but was never able to push ahead. Duke set up set point with a kill to make it 24-21, but Whitesides would not let her side go quietly. She strung together a kill, a block and a kill in successive points to tie the score at 24-all. The Blue Devils had set-point chances at 25-24 and 26-25 that were also denied, but final were able to close out a must-win game for them. Duke was able to terminate on offense in the win, scoring 23 of its 28 points off kills, compared to just 14 for South Carolina.
3rd SET: The Gamecock defense answered the call after Duke’s strong offensive showing in the third, Oby Anadi had her strongest set of the afternoon and energized the team in a 25-18 win. The key run came midway through the set, when South Carolina broke out of a 14-all tie with four unanswered points, including a pair of kills from Alayna Johnson. The trio of Whitesides, Anadi and Johnson accounted for all 13 of the team’s kills, and Anadi sparked the defense with a pair of loud solo blocks. Behind her, Harris and McElveen totaled 18 of the team’s 23 digs to help hold Duke to a team hitting…