Alabama Volleyball Falls to #24 South Carolina
10/18/2002 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
 |
|
TUSCALOOSA - The Alabama volleyball team dropped a disappointing 3-0 (30-27, 30-23, 30-23) decision to a very experienced No. 24 South Carolina squad in the CAVE on Friday night.
The Crimson Tide dropped to 13-8 overall and 4-3 in SEC play while Carolina improved to 15-3 overall and remained undefeated in league play moving to 8-0 on the year. With the win USC, earned the season sweep over the Tide.
"South Carolina is a very mature and experienced team," said UA head coach Judy Green. "They played like a really veteran squad tonight. I was proud of our effort but we are still struggling to put those final touches into our game that will get us over the hump against really good teams. We must continue to work and mature as a group and the only way we can do that is by playing."
Both teams struggled out of the gate early with neither team holding more than a two-point advantage until an 8-2 run midway through the frame put USC up 23-17. The Gamecocks pushed their lead to 28-21 only to see the Tide score 6 of the next 7 points to pull to within two points at 29-27. A costly service error by Bama gave USC the game one victory, 30-27.
Carolina used an early 5-0 spurt to take a quick lead and never looked back as Bama struggled to find an offensive flow. Erin Heffner, the SEC leader in kills, was the Tide's lone bright spot in the second frame finishing with 10 of the team's 19 kills in the game. USC owned as large a lead as nine points en route to the 30-23 win.
The Tide regrouped following the break and kept things tight at the start of game three. South Carolina edged into a slight lead then broke things open with a five-point run that put them in front by the score of 27-19. Alabama could not recover and the Gamecocks held on for the 30-23 victory and the sweep in the match.
Heffner paced the Tide attack with 18 kills followed by 16 from Jennifer Bibber. Bibber and Milner both finished with 10 digs for the Tide defense. Alabama posted more kills (51-47) and digs (42-37) than the Gamecocks but the difference in the match was Bama's 13 service errors and 21 hitting errors. USC committed just 10 hitting miscues for all three games, out-hitting UA, .356 to .261.
Alabama returns to action on Sunday afternoon when the Tide hosts Kentucky at 1:30 p.m. in the CAVE.
Alabama (13-8, 4-3 SEC) 27 23 23
#24 South Carolina (15-3, 8-0 SEC) 30 30 30
