Alabama volleyball lost to South Carolina in three sets on Friday, bringing its record to 3-11 in SEC play and 11-14 overall.
The first set was all Gamecocks early on as the team had a 16-10 advantage, but the Crimson Tide rallied back, going on a 9-2 run to take a 19-18 lead. But South Carolina went on a run of its own, scoring the next 3 points and taking back a lead it would never relinquish, winning the set 25-22.
Set 2 saw a back-and-forth at first, with the score tied at 13. Then Alabama took control, scoring the next 4 points to go up 17-13. Once again, however, the Gamecocks fought back late in the set with a 5-1 rally to tie the game up at 21.
The Crimson Tide had a chance to win the set, as the team was up 24-22 and needed only 1 more point to win, but South Carolina scored 4 straight points to take it 26-24.
The third set was another nail-biter early on, as the two teams went back and forth and came to a tie at 20. Ultimately, the Gamecocks followed the theme of the first two sets and rallied again late, scoring 4 out of the last 7 points and completing the sweep with a 25-22 win.
“We didn’t keep our foot on the gas,” head coach Rashinda Reed said. “South Carolina is a very good team, and we just didn’t respect them enough.”
Despite the loss, outside hitter Kaleigh Palmer had one of her best performances of the season, leading the team with 12 kills and a .385 hitting percentage.
“I’m incredibly proud of her. There’s a ‘dawg’ mentality brewing in her,” Reed said. “She went all-out for the entire match.”
Outside hitter Paris Thompson had nine kills in the match, while middle blockers Jordyn Towns and Chaise Campbell and outside hitter Sophie Agee each had seven kills. Setter Kayla Keshock led the team in assists with 35 and libero Francesca Bertucci had a team-high 13 digs.
The two teams were about evenly split in kills, with 45 for Alabama and 46 for South Carolina, but the errors ultimately ended up being the story of the game as the Crimson Tide had 17 compared to just eight for Gamecocks.
Reed hopes to see the team’s effort late in sets improve as the regular season ends.
“I want us to finish the game,” she said, adding the team must “battle from start to finish.”
The Crimson Tide’s next game is a home matchup against Ole Miss on Sunday at 2 p.m. CT. The game can be watched on SEC Network+.
