South Carolina head volleyball coach Scott Swanson knows that whenever Florida comes to town, his team has to play its best game of the season to have a chance against the Gators.
And while the Gamecocks (13-5, 3-3) played at a high level Wednesday night, they were unable to pull out a victory against No. 8 Florida (13-3, 7-0), losing in four sets (25-19, 18-25, 13-25, 19-25).
Going into the game, South Carolina knew how crucial it would be to get off to a fast start and did just that.
After Florida took a 5-3 lead early on, the Gamecocks went on a 22-14 run to win the first set 25-19.
The Gamecocks were nearly flawless early on, committing just one error in the first set, while earning a hitting percentage of .395.
“I thought we played the best game of our season in game one,” Swanson said. “Obviously, we only had one hitting error, and we outhit them, and [Florida] made some errors that they don’t usually make, so we got some momentum tonight, and I thought it was just a confident, nothing to lose effort tonight in the first game.”
But the Gators found a rhythm during the second set and were able dominate for most of the night.
Florida overcame an early deficit in that second set and evened the match at one set apiece to win 25-18.
The Gators continued their strong performance into the third and fourth sets.
While the Gamecocks stuck around for a while in the third frame and were within five points on several occasions, Florida ended the set on a 8-1 run to win 25-13.
South Carolina had a tough time containing Florida’s attack as the Gators consistently put up double-digit kills in each set.
In particular, Florida sophomore right side hitter Alex Holston was especially lethal as she ended the night with game-highs in kills (19), and hitting percentage (.366).
According to Swanson, stopping Florida’s attack is more than a difficult task.
“At times it’s impossible, to be honest,” he said. “They have a girl that touches 11-foot-3, and our highest jump touch is 10-foot-3, so when she’s up there and they get that ball high enough for her, there’s really not a way to play defense against that.”
Still, the Gamecocks fought back, showing great resilience in the fourth set and led 10-7 before Florida mounted a comeback, going up 16-13.
Not discouraged, the Gamecocks mounted a rally of their own and tied the match at 17-17.
Ultimately, Florida was able to close out the final set with poise, winning 25-19.
Even with the loss, there were some bright spots for South Carolina, including freshman outside hitter Taylr McNeil’s performance.
McNeil led the Gamecocks with 16 kills and her stellar play in the first set helped South Carolina take an early lead.
McNeil explained that she and her teammates were able to find success in the first set due to a sense of confidence in each other along with the excitement of hosting an elite team like Florida.
“We were very confident in our skills,” McNeil said. “Sometimes when you get down you get a little less confident, but I think that we were doing really well, keeping that confidence and keeping that energy.”
Moving on, South Carolina hosts No. 19 Texas A&M on Sunday at 1:30 p.m.
But before then, Swanson and his team will look for ways to improve consistency.
“I told the team, 'We need to quite riding the roller coaster,'” Swanson said. “Up and down and up and down. We have to find a way to stay mentally focused for more than one set.”