University of Tennessee Athletics
University of Tennessee
South Carolina
LADY VOLS CLAIM 3-1 ROAD VICTORY VERSUS SOUTH CAROLINA
October 26, 2005 | Volleyball
Oct. 26, 2005
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COLUMBIA, S.C. - The University of Tennessee volleyball team (13-7, 7-3 Southeastern Conference) claimed a 15-30, 30-18, 30-18, 30-21 win over South Carolina (10-10, 3-7 SEC) in SEC volleyball action on Wednesday night. The win broke an all-time deadlock with the Gamecocks as UT grabbed a 23-22 lead with the win. The Big Orange has claimed the last five meetings.
South Carolina took the momentum right away in game one, jumping out to 5-0 and 10-1 leads. Although Tennessee rallied back with five straight points and a 10-6 deficit, the Gamecocks responded with three straight points for a 13-6 lead. USC steadily increased its lead to 15 at 27-12 on its way to the 30-15 win.
In the second game, it was Tennessee's turn to turn on the scoring machine. The contest was close from the onset until UT had an 11-9 lead (up to that point, neither team had greater than a two-point lead). A 5-0 run earned the Lady Vols a 15-9 edge and a later 6-0 skein gave UT a dominating 27-15 lead on its way to the 30-18 win. UT's largest lead of 13 came at 29-16. In the game, UT rebounded from a -.029 hitting percentage in the first game for a .522 percentage in the second.
Game three saw Tennessee run off the first six points and not relinquish its advantage throughout the game. A 7-1 run would earn the Big Orange a 17-8 advantage. South Carolina rallied back with a 6-2 run of its own to cut its deficit to six at 23-17. At that point, the Orange and White ran off the next six points for a 29-17 edge on its way to the 30-18 win.
South Carolina took the early edges in the fourth game, albeit not large ones as its largest lead of three came at 4-1 and 10-7. Tennessee responded to the latter three-point lead with a tremendous run of 15-3 for a 23-15 advantage. A 5-1 skein by South Carolina cut the UT lead to 23-18, but Tennessee would pull away before winning, 30-21. Its largest lead in the game came on the final tally.
In the first game, senior setter Julie Knytych (LaGrange Park, Ill.) moved into seventh place on the SEC all-time career assists chart (passing Georgia's Margot Wallace, who had 5,166 from 2001-04) and, in the second game, she pushed herself into a tie for the sixth slot before taking sole possession early in the third game. Ironically, she passed South Carolina's Ashley Edlund, who tallied 5,177 from 1995-98, on Edlund's former home court.
In the contest, junior outside hitter Kelsey Fautsch (Chisago Lakes, Minn.) led all Lady Vols in hitting percentage at .400 (13-3-25). Junior middle blocker Sarah Blum (Tulsa, Okla.) hit .346 (12-3-26) and sophomore outside hitter Yuliya Stoyanova (Sofia, Bulgaria) hit .302 (17-4-43). Knytych had 40 assists.
Defensively, Knytych led all Big Orange players in digs with 10, senior libero Amy Morris (Michigan City, Ind.) and junior defensive specialist Annie Sadowski (Wheaton, Ill.) had nine each and Stoyanova tallied eight. Two players co-led Tennessee in blocks with four: Fatusch and Blum. Senior middle blocker Kristen Andre (Kelseyville, Calif.) had three.
"I was real proud of how the team came back from a very slow start," Head Coach Rob Patrick said. "It is something that has really affected our earlier matches during the year that we would not bounce back from playing inconsistent during the beginning of a match. We're starting to mature as a team because we're able to put some inconsistent play behind us and move forward and pick up our game. Sarah (Blum) has really continued to be consistently good offensively for us and that's really helped our team and Yuliya (Stoyanova) did a nice job of putting balls away as South Carolina's defense did a good job of concentrating on Kristen (Andre) most of the day."
The Lady Vols now return home for five-of-six matches to conclude the SEC slate, beginning with a 6:30 p.m. contest versus Georgia on Friday at Thompson-Boling Arena. The contest will coincide with Big Orange Madness. On Sunday, Tennessee plays host to No. 4 Florida at 1:30 p.m. at Stokely Athletics Center. That contest will be broadcast nationally on CSTV as the AVCA Match of the Week.
