GAINESVILLE, FLA. – South Carolina volleyball enters the final week of the 2023 season with two matches against ranked opponents on the schedule. The Gamecocks (10-15, 4-12 SEC) begin with their road finale on Nov. 22 at No. 20 Florida, for a 3 p.m. match with the Gators (17-8, 9-7). The season finale comes at home on Nov. 25, with a 1 p.m. first serve against 8th-ranked Tennessee (23-3, 14-2 SEC). It will be the seventh and eighth games against ranked opponents in SEC play, marking the most in a single season for South Carolina since it joined the conference in 1991.
SCOUTING THE GATORS
Florida has not had the season it hoped after wrapping up non-conference play with a top-five ranking nationally and a 10-1 record. The Gators lost all-SEC setter Alexis Stuckey nine games into the season, leaving the team with just one full-time setter on the roster – Flagler College transfer Kennedy Muff. The team also lost graduate transfer Anna Dixon for all but six of the team’s SEC matches, after she ranked among the team leaders in hitting percentage and kills in the early season success. Despite the losses, Florida remains in the top five of the SEC, thanks to national freshman of the year candidate Kennedy Martin. She currently leads the team with 4.26 kills per set while hitting .287, and also leads the defense with 98 total blocks.
FIRST MEETING NOTABLES
- Florida won in four sets, handing the Gamecocks their fourth loss in a row to start SEC play. The last time South Carolina started conference play at 0-4 was 2015.
- South Carolina finished with the advantage in kills (56-54) and digs (51-36) in the loss, marking the first time since Oct. 8, 2022 (at Tennessee) that the team lost a match it led in both categories.
- Florida hit .347 in the win, with freshman Kennedy Martin leading the offense with 15 kills and left sides AC Fitzpatrick and Sofia Victoria combining for 26 kills and just five errors on 56 swings. Outside of eight blocks from South Carolina, Florida committed just three errors on the other 116 swings offensively.
- Behind her team-high 16 kills, Riley Whitesides surpassed 900 career kills in the match. She is just the seventh woman since 2001 to reach 900. She also hit .268 in the match.
- Kiune Fletcher had 14 kills with a .385 hitting percentage against the Gators.
- Florida enjoyed a strong advantage in both service aces (7-2) and total blocks (13-8).
SCOUTING THE VOLUNTEERS
The Gamecocks will face another national freshman of the year…