COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina volleyball returns from an off week to prepare for a critical week of matches as the SEC season tips into the back half of the schedule. The Gamecocks (9-8, 3-4 SEC) will host Mississippi State (11-7, 4-4) on Wednesday at 7 p.m. ET, then end the week with a trip to Baton Rouge to face LSU (10-8, 4-4) at 2 p.m. ET on Sunday, Oct. 23. Wednesday night will be on the SEC Network+, Sunday will be a national broadcast on the SEC Network.
WEEK THREE NOTABLES (AT TENNESSEE)
- Tennessee finished with a season-high 21 blocks in the first match of the weekend, including six in the fifth set alone. It is the second time in the last four matches that a Gamecock opponent went for over 20 blocks in a match.
- Just six games into SEC play, the Gamecocks played four five-set matches.
- Alayna Johnson led the offense with 14 kills in the series opener, a career high for the freshman. She had more kills Saturday than she had in her previous three matches combined.
- Jenna Hampton finished the first match with 28 digs, marking the fourth game in a row with 20 or more digs and her third time eclipsing 25 digs in a game so far this season. As a team, South Carolina’s 86 total digs are a season high and the most since recording 87 at LSU on Nov. 18, 2018.
- After not playing in the series opener, Kiune Fletcher had a strong afternoon in the Sunday rematch, highlighted by four kills in the third set on the way to a final line of eight kills and just two errors on 17 swings.
- Dalaney Hans had two service aces in the first set and finished with three for the match, her fourth time this season the setter had three or more aces in a single game. The combination of Hans and Camilla Covas – who led the team with four aces – helped the Gamecocks finish the day with a season-high nine aces as a team on Sunday. The previous high was eight, done three different times this fall.
- South Carolina’s blockers did not record their first denial of Tennessee until early in the third set in Sunday’s loss. Less than 24 hours after the two sides combined for 32 blocks, the teams had just nine on Sunday with the Volunteers commanding a 7-2 advantage.
- Tennessee’s .385 hitting percentage as a team in the Sunday match is the highest allowed by South Carolina this season, surpassing the .380 mark by North Carolina on Sept. 2. The Vols committed no errors in the first set, two in the second and five in set three.
SCOUTING THE BULLDOGS
Mississppi State has flirted…