Gamecocks in last place in division after dropping 8 of last 10
With just a month left in the regular season, South Carolina volleyball coach Scott Swanson is hoping to string together some victories to end the season on a good note.
After starting the season 13-0, 2-0 in the SEC, USC has lost eight of its past 10 matches, all against conference opponents. The slump has the Gamecocks in last place in the SEC East.
“It’s one of those things where we are still rebuilding,” Swanson said. “We still have a lot of young kids and we’re playing teams that are, on paper, better than us. We have to get over that and we have to go out and fight, no matter who we play.”
USC will look to regain its winning form this weekend against two teams they lost to earlier in the season, Auburn and Texas A&M. Auburn handed the Gamecocks its first loss the first time they played, beginning the tumble from undefeated to last place.
“We lost to (Auburn) in four games at their place,” Swanson said. “I felt like had more than a couple players stepped up to play well, that we should have won that one. I think it’s going to take that same amount of effort when they come into our gym. I think that they might have a little more confidence because they know they’ve already beaten us once. It’s one of those things where we have to find some confidence and we have to play like we have nothing to lose.”
There has been little home court advantage for USC lately as the Gamecocks last home win came over a month ago against LSU.
But the Gamecocks were able to snap a seven-game losing streak this past week with wins on the road over Coastal Carolina and Mississippi State. The weekend ended on a sour note, though, when USC lost at Ole Miss in a game that Swanson felt was his team’s to win.
“We were very disappointed in that loss because we felt like that was a team that we could beat if we had played better (and) played up to our potential,” Swanson said. “We didn’t come out and perform like we wanted to.”
Swanson said that his team has “to do everything better” and lamented on the amount of hitting errors the team has committed in its losses.
“In our losses, we are giving other teams a lot of free points because we’re hitting the ball out of bounds rather than being patient and keeping it on the court. We’re also letting teams hit for a very high hitting percentage against us and that has everything to do with how we set up our block and how we read our defense around it.”
While USC lost to both upcoming opponents earlier in the season, Swanson says his team can learn from the losses and not repeat the same mistakes.
“Remembering what they did well and what their weaknesses were might help a little bit, just for the psyche,” Swanson said. “I know that our girls specifically remember not playing very well against Auburn at times and we played very poorly against Texas A&M. Part of that is that those teams are really, really good. We have to play well enough to get them uncomfortable and force them to change what they like to do.”