University of Tennessee Athletics
University of Tennessee
13-3, 5-1SEC
South Carolina
11-4, 3-2SEC
No. 22 Tennessee Takes Down South Carolina, 3-1
October 08, 2021 | Volleyball
COLUMBIA, S.C. – In a hard-fought match, the 22nd-ranked Tennessee volleyball team defeated South Carolina in four sets (25-21,17-25, 25-23, 26-24) Friday night at the Carolina Volleyball Center.
Tennessee (13-3, 5-1 SEC) received key contributions from Lily Felts, Danielle Mahaffey and Breana Runnels as the trio accounted for 41 of UT's 59 kills. South Carolina (11-4, 3-2 SEC) out-hit the Big Orange .311 to .295, but untimely errors and strong service pressure from UT proved to be too much for the Gamecocks to overcome.
Mahaffey rose to the occasion Friday night as she scored a team-high 19.5 points for the Lady Vols. The senior hit a team-and-match-high .600 and put down 14 kills, tying Runnels for the team-lead in the win. Mahaffey also accounted for nine total blocks, two solo and seven assisted.
Runnels earned a double-double with 14 kills and 10 digs while coming up with timely kills throughout the night. Felts also picked up a double-double of 13 kills and 12 digs with two blocks.
JaKya Moore and Paola Laborda applied service pressure all night as the pair finished with three kills apiece. Laborda's third and final ace of the evening ended the match as she served the ball down the line to USC's Riley Whiteside who could not handle it, giving UT the four-set win.
Mahaffey got rolling early for UT in the opening set as she put away five kills, leading the Lady Vols to a 25-21 first set win. Moore and Laborda each dropped in an ace in the first set.
UT hit .310 in the second but the Gamecocks hit .516 as they pulled away from Tennessee to win, 25-17.
Down 22-16 in the third set, UT dug deep and rallied to pull out a 25-23 win. Back-to-back attack errors from South Carolina got the rally started as Felts and Laborda scored back-to-back kills to quickly cut the lead to two.
Three more errors on the offensive end by South Carolina gave UT the lead at 23-22 before a service error from the Lady Vols tied the third set up at 23-23. Kills from Mahaffey and Runnels then closed the set as Tennessee took a 2-1 advantage in the match.
South Carolina jumped out early in the fourth set as it quickly gained a 7-3 lead. UT rallied to close to within a point, but the Gamecocks continued to hold the Lady Vols off until Tennessee tied the set up at 14-14.
The teams battled back-and-forth the rest of the way with neither side able to pull away from the other. Twice the Big Orange fought off set-and-match-point before Felts put down a kill to give UT match-point of its own.
That is when Laborda stepped to the service line and dropped in an ace, giving Tennessee the 26-24 fourth set win.
STAT LEADERS
Kills – Danielle Mahaffey (14), Breana Runnels (14)
Assists – Natalie Hayward (44)
Digs – Lily Felts (12)
Blocks – Danielle Mahaffey (9)
UP NEXT
Tennessee and South Carolina return to the court Saturday to wrap up the two-match series. First serve from the Carolina Volleyball Center is scheduled for 5 p.m. ET. The match can be streamed on SEC Network+ or through the WatchESPN app.
