The South Carolina volleyball team (8-13) fell to the Auburn Tigers (16-6) in four sets at the Carolina Volleyball Center on Wednesday night.
The Gamecocks were able to earn the first points of the match with a kill and service ace from junior middle Ava Leahy, and a kill from senior middle Emily Beeker to take 3-0 lead.
South Carolina took an early 7-4 lead, with kills from Beeker, junior right side Laiya Ebo and two back-to-back kills from senior outside hitter Alayna Johnson. Auburn was forced to call a timeout shortly after with the score 11-5 in South Carolina’s favor.
While an exchange of points occurred between both teams, offensive mistakes and newfound momentum from Auburn brought the score to 16-14 with the Gamecocks in the lead.
Subsequent kills from Ebo, sophomore right side Elise Marchal, Leahy and junior outside hitter Nia Hall brought the score to 21-17, forcing Auburn to call another timeout. Hall and Marchal were able to bring the score to 23-17 after more kills, with Hall ending the first set with a kill of her own to win the set 25-21.
South Carolina earned their first point of the second set off a service error from Auburn. Despite an exchange of points, a timeout was called by South Carolina after Auburn took an early 8-3 lead.
Auburn remained strong on the offensive end as a result of many kills and attacking errors from the Gamecocks, forcing South Carolina to call another timeout as Auburn increased their lead, 17-10 before another timeout after a short game run that brought the lead to 18-15.
The Gamecocks then won the point out of timeout with a block from Johnson and Leahy, but Auburn bounced back with 4-0 run of their own, bringing the score to 22-16. While South Carolina was able to earn more points, Auburn was able to win the second set 25-18.
The Gamecocks earned their first point of third set off a kill from Johnson. A timeout was called by South Carolina after Auburn took another 8-3 lead after a display of strong offense.
The Gamecocks were quick to respond with 4-0 run after a kill by Leahy a block by Leahy and Marchal, a kill by Hall and service ace from Johnson decreased South Carolina's deficit, 11-9.
An exchange of points ensued, but Auburn was able to break away and build upon their early offensive momentum. South Carolina was forced to call a timeout after Auburn led the Gamecocks 18-12.
South Carolina was quick to respond once more, able to go on 3-0 run, until a service error from sophomore libero Victoria Harris made the score 19-15.However, Auburn called a timeout after another 3-0 Gamecock scoring run with two kills from Marchal and an Auburn attacking error.
Both teams exchanged points, until Auburn was able to close the third set 25-21 as a result of strong offense and South Carolina attacking errors.
Hall earned the Gamecocks first point of the fourth set with a kill. There was an early exchange of points until the score was tied at 6-6. The score remained tied until Auburn went on a 3-0 run, taking the lead 11-9 and forcing South Carolina to call a timeout.
Another timeout was called after Auburn increased their lead 16-10 after another 3-0 run due to kills and attacking errors committed by the Gamecocks.
South Carolina bounced with a 4-0 run with two kills from Ebo and one from Johnson, as well as an attacking error committed by Auburn. The score was 17-14. Despite the Gamecocks earning a few additional points, Auburn was able to win the fourth set 25-17.
Marchal comes through
This match against Auburn marks Marchal's third consecutive game with double-digit kills. She has had four games with double-digit kills on the season, her first dating back to the Gamecock's match against Coastal Carolina on Sept. 3. She now has 122 total kills on the season.
Marchal also achieved a new season-high of six kills, previously breaking her season high of five, bringing her total to 56 digs on the season.
South Carolina ranks fourteenth in the SEC for total number of kills, with 999.
Strengths and weaknesses
While South Carolina's offense shined with 139 attacks, 57 kills and four service aces, it was the defense that head coach Sarah Rumely Noble said needs some improvement.
"Our offensive production was really good, so I was proud of our offense with that. But defensively, we didn't slow them down enough to put ourselves in a position to win the match," Rumely Noble said. "As we have continued to talk through the course of the season, we have been working a ton on getting our offense better, and we did that, but then we didn't quite get it done on the defensive side of the ball."
While South Carolina was able to achieve more digs compared to Auburn, 50-48, they fell short on blocking, with seven blocks compared to Auburn's 11.
Reflecting back and looking forward
While South Carolina falls to 8-13 overall on the season and 2-9 in conference play, the team culture and dynamic has made the season enjoyable according to Rumely Noble.
"The team is amazing, the level that they care for each other, the way that they come in and want to work hard, it's made this season really enjoyable regardless of what our record is and they're really high-character kids," Rumely Noble said.
With the season coming to a close and only four more regular season games left to play before the SEC Tournament, the Gamecocks look forward to playing at home again on Sunday against the Florida Gators.
"Florida is a top 25 program, they are really good," Rumely Noble said. "We had some glimpses of some moments tonight where we were playing at a really, really high level, and as we get back into practice the rest of this week, how do we maintain that level longer over time?"
What's next?
South Carolina will take on the No. 25 ranked Florida Gators on Sunday at Carolina Volleyball Center at 1 p.m. The match will be streamed on SEC+ network.