Vols Drop Tough Road Match Against South Carolina

Sunday, October 1

Columbia, SC

1:00 PM

University of Tennessee

8-5, 1-3SEC

South Carolina

9-6, 2-1SEC

Tennessee

South Carolina

October 01, 2017 | Volleyball

Box Score

Box Score (PDF)

COLUMBIA, S.C. – Alyssa Andreno tied her career-high 16 kills and had a hitting percentage of .583 but it was not enough as the University of South Carolina battled to defeat Tennessee 3-1 (25-23, 25-17, 27-25, 25-17) Sunday afternoon at the Carolina Volleyball Center.

Andreno, Erica Treiber and Kanisha Jimenez all had double-digit kills for Tennessee (8-5, 1-3 SEC) for the match and combined for 37 of the team's 58 kills. For the match, the Vols had a hitting percentage of .306 and 13 blocks as a team.

Andreno had five kills and hit .714 in a tough opening set that the Gamecocks took 25-23. Tennessee led for most of the opening set until South Carolina (9-6, 2-1 SEC) tied the set at 15 following the media timeout and then took its first lead at 16-15.

Tennessee would tie the match back up at 6 following a kill by Treiber and the Vols would retake the lead following a block by Treiber and Jimenez. From that point on, the two teams would trade the lead a few times before the Vols took a timeout with the score 21-22 in favor of the Gamecocks. Out of that timeout SC would go on to score three of the next five points to take the opening set 25-23.

The second set was more of the same. After the media timeout, Tennessee held on to a three-point lead at 15-12. The Lady Vols were on fire and used a 6-0 run towards the end of the set to help lead them to a 25-17 win in set two. Andreno led the way again but this time with a .600 hitting percentage in the second set and three of her 16 kills.

UT led much of the third set but the Gamecocks worked hard to cut into the Vols' lead and went on a 3-0 run to get as close as three points with the score at 16-13 before the Big Orange would take a timeout. Following the timeout, Abreia Epps had a service error to make it 17-13, but after trading a point South Carolina would go on a 4-0 run to tie the set up at 18. After trading another point, SC would take its first lead following a service ace by Brooke Gostomski to make it 20-19. Turner got a kill to tie the match back up at 20-20 and the match would be tied five times following that until Stephanie Spencer came off the bench and served an ace to give the Lady Vols a 25-24 lead. The Gamecocks came out of a timeout and scored the final three points to take the set 27-25.

South Carolina used an 8-2 run to take a 17-10 lead over the Vols midway through the fourth set and never looked back on their way to winning the set 25-17.

South Carolina finished the match with 64 kills and a hitting percentage of .301 as the Gamecocks were led by Mikayla Shields who finished with a match-high 21 kills on 44 attacks and a .295 hitting percentage. Courtney Koehler had 50 assists and finished with a .500 hitting percentage.

Tennessee will be back in action on Wednesday, October 4 when UT welcomes the Auburn Tigers to Thompson-Boling Arena for an 8 p.m. match.

Match Notes:

Jimenez had a season-high 11 kills.
Sedona Hansen posted her 13^th straight match with 10 or more assists finishing with 25.
Hanson also recorded her fifth double-double of the season with 25 assists and 15 digs.
Andreno tied her career high of 16 kills.
Asha Phillips started in her second match of the season Sunday afternoon.