South Carolina volleyball coach Kim Christopher thinks her team has found its rhythm as the No. 22-ranked Gamecocks head down the final stretch of the regular season. On Sunday, USC rolled over visiting Kentucky 30-25, 30-27 and 30-17 with a consistent attack.
In the fourth match of a six-match homestand, the Gamecocks (14-3, 5-3 SEC) outplayed the Wildcats in every facet of the game and earned their first sweep in eight matches.
"Mentally, we're in a good place right now," Christopher said. "I feel that we're starting to get to where we're thinking about championship volleyball and focusing more on the team and less on ourselves as individuals." USC dominated Kentucky in the first and third games, breaking out to comfortable leads and then picking apart the Wildcat defense with accurate sets from Megan Hosp and Amy Pratt who assisted on precision kills. Cally Plummer, Berna Dwyer and Nadia Sefferovich each had a hitting percentage over .400. The Gamecocks as a team hit at a .323 clip, while the Wildcats struggled with a .169 hitting percentage.
"Today, right when we started the match, we were doing some good things in transition, passing the ball low and making good decisions," Christopher said.
Kentucky had South Carolina down 17-13 midway through the second game and was playing well enough to keep a slight lead. Christopher said the Gamecocks have had trouble putting teams away in straight games since late September, and have let teams sneak back into matches. Kentucky (10-8, 3-5 SEC) would have no such luck, as kills from Nia Mackie and Sefferovich sparked a late Gamecock rally.
"We're understanding that we need to be in a situation where teams beat us and we don't help them beat us," Christopher said. "They (Kentucky) were much more aggressive on the service line in the second game and I didn't feel like we handled that as attackers."
The third game was a passing and hitting clinic for the Gamecocks, who scored points on 14 of its 22 attacks in the game, looking confident with each approach to the net.
The Gamecocks finish their homestand next week with matches against Auburn and Alabama.
