Team Fights Hard, Comes Up Empty
(Nov. 5, 2000) — Kristen Batt, Whitney Sample and Megan Weiskircher all recorded double-doubles, but the UK volleyball team fellshort against visiting South Carolina, losing 3-1 on November 5 at Memorial Coliseum.
After losing the opening game, UK (4-19, 2-10 SEC) battled back to even the match with a victory in the secondgame. Losing a hard-fought game three seemed to take the wind out of UK’s sail and USC took full-advantagecruising to an easy victory in the fourth game.
“It was an exciting match to be a part of,” Coach Jona Braden said. “Both teams gave great efforts and a lot of runto be a part of. I am very pleased with our performance in the first three games. I just wish we could erase gamefour.”
The Gamecocks took the opening game 15-8 behind six kills by Berna Dwyer. USC raced out to an early 10-3lead and the game was never in doubt beyond that point.
USC hit .277 while UK could only manage .196. Liz McCaslin posted five kills while Weiskircher and Batt addedfour for the Big Blue in game one.
UK rebounded to take the marathon that was game two 15-11. The Cats broke an 8-8 tie and proceeded tocapture seven of the next ten points to even the match at one game apiece.
Sissy Canfield hit for a game-high seven kills. Weiskircher and Batt notched six and five kills, respectively, inaddition to six digs apiece. UK scorched the nets hitting at a .347 clip, .147 points higher than USC.
Game three proved to be the most exciting of the match. With the score knotted at 10, USC forged ahead totake a 12-10 lead. UK clawed back to even the contest at 12-12. Once again, the Gamecocks took a two-point lead,but UK cut the lead in half at 14-13. However, the Cats were unable to even the score as USC earned a side out,then won the final point to take game three 15-13.
The difficult loss in game three seemed to take a lot out of UK as the Cats never challenged in game four. USCreeled off 11 of the game’s first 12 points en route to winning 15-3.
Despite the loss, several Cats posted impressive numbers. Weiskircher posted her eighth double-double of theyear with 16 kills and 15 assists. Kristen Batt notched her sixth double-double of the season with a team-high 17 killsand 12 digs while Whitney Sample’s 57 assists and 12 digs resulted in her fourth double-double on the campaign.
USC (20-4, 11-1 SEC) was led by Cally Plummer who swung for a match-high 22 kills and 12 digs. ManyQuarterman and Berna Dwyer each added 13 kills for the Gamecocks.
Kentucky will close-out its’ regular-season conference schedule next weekend with a home-and-away series withthe Tennessee Volunteers.
