The South Carolina volleyball team suffered a four-set loss to the No. 5 seed Dayton Flyers in the first round of the NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball Tournament on Thursday.
The Gamecocks quickly fell behind in the program's first NCAA Tournament match since 2021 and never recovered.
Dayton scored the first point of the match when junior defensive specialist Emily Young scored a service ace. After a tight start to the first set, the Flyers took a 15-12 lead on a kill by senior setter Alyssa Miller. The Flyers clinched a 25-20 first-set win when redshirt senior outside hitter Brooke Smith registered a kill.
In the second set, Dayton took a commanding 12-5 lead after back-to-back service aces by Young, forcing South Carolina to call a timeout. The Flyers' lead stretched out to 10 points when graduate student outside hitter Riley Whitesides committed an attacking error. The Flyers won the second set 25-15 after a service error by Gamecocks' junior setter Sarah Jordan.
South Carolina took an early 7-5 lead in the third set after a kill by Whitesides, her third of the set. However, Dayton stormed back to take a 22-20 lead when redshirt senior middle blocker Alayna Yates scored a kill. Facing elimination, the Gamecocks regained the lead behind a service ace from Whitesides. The Gamecocks won the third set 26-24 when Dayton junior middle blocker Liana Sarkissian committed an attacking error, making it a 2-1 match.
Dayton quickly took a 4-point lead in the fourth set after redshirt senior outside hitter Lexie Almodovar scored back-to-back kills, forcing South Carolina to call another timeout. The Flyers used a 12-0 scoring run to take a commanding 14-point lead in the set. The Flyers won the set 25-10 and clinched a place in the NCAA Tournament's round of 32 when Whitesides committed a service error.
Dayton's offense carries the load
The Flyers provided strong performances from its outside hitter duo of Almodovar and Smith. Almodovar posted 22 kills and 26.5 points against South Carolina, while Smith finished with 11 kills and 11 points.
Between the two teams, the Flyers totaled 53 kills to the Gamecocks' 46. The Flyers dominated the Gamecocks in services aces, adding 11 to the Gamecocks' four. The Gamecocks also struggled with service errors, committing 19 in the first-round defeat.
Whitesides delivers in loss
Despite the loss, Whitesides had an impressive night against Dayton. She finished with 22 kills and 23.5 points in the match.
Whitesides, who was recently named to the 2024 All-SEC First Team, ended her storied career with the Gamecocks against the Flyers. During the regular season, Whitesides averaged 4.43 kills per set, good for the second-highest average in program history. The average also ranked inside the top 25 nationally this season.
South Carolina's season comes to an end
After falling to Dayton in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, the Gamecocks' season has come to an end. South Carolina ended the 2024 season with a 16-12 record, including a 7-9 mark in SEC play. Some of the highlights for the Gamecocks this season include a road win over Clemson and a pair of victories over Florida, who were ranked in the top 25 by the American Volleyball Coaches Association at the time of both matches.