On Sunday evening the South Carolina volleyball team gathered to watch the NCAA Selection Show, just like many other programs across the country did.
But having finished the regular season under .500 in conference play, the Gamecocks already knew there wasn’t a chance their name would flash up on the screen, though head coach Scott Swanson’s team made a berth in the NCAA Tournament a goal at the beginning of the season.
There was a reason the coach made a point of gathering his team to watch the show. After an up-and-down year, Swanson wanted to give South Carolina a glimpse of what’s possible in the future.
While the Gamecocks, (17-14, 7-11 SEC) made strides in some departments, South Carolina’s 2014 campaign will be remembered as one troubled by inconsistency and injuries.
Led by promising players such as freshman Taylr McNeil and junior middle blocker Darian Dozier, the talent gap between South Carolina and some of the SEC’s more dominant programs didn’t seem that big at times.
On the flip side, South Carolina would go through stretches of bad play regardless of the opponent.
Still, the Gamecocks saw notable improvements compared to the 2013 season.
“I thought we were very up-and-down, but we improved,” Swanson said. “Most SEC wins since 2008, which is promising.”
South Carolina came close to securing program-building victories over conference foes on several occasions, but they came up short in tight games at home to teams such as Texas A&M and Alabama, both NCAA tournament-bound squads.
Heartbreaking and down-to-the-wire losses were a common occurrence for the Gamecocks as South Carolina dropped five five-set matches.
After beginning the year 11-2, the Gamecocks went through a bit of a rough patch as the meat of their schedule approached.
Nonetheless, South Carolina found itself one game over .500 in conference play at the end of October with a chance to finish the season strong.
Instead, Swanson’s team went 2-7 in its final nine contests, and the Gamecocks lost five consecutive games between Oct. 31 and Nov. 16.
South Carolina was without McNeil in three of the team’s final five matches, and the freshman’s playing time was limited in the games in which she was available down the stretch.
Being without one of the SEC’s top freshmen at the end of the season was tough for the Gamecocks.
“We just didn’t have anybody else who could replace four kills a game,” Swanson said.
Like McNeil, Dozier was a crucial piece to the team, and the Sandy Spring, Maryland native finished fourth in the conference with 1.17 blocks per game.
While the Gamecocks didn’t quite accomplish what they wanted to do this past season, the team will lose just two seniors, and South Carolina is set to return most of its roster for the 2015 season.
Those facts have Swanson optimistic about the future of the program.
“We’ll get everybody back, plus some new good kids coming in,” Swanson said. “We’re on the right track. We’re going in the right direction, and you can never complain about improvement.”