COLUMBIA, S.C. — Liz Markovska (18 kills, 13 digs) notched her third double-double of the season on a career-high .533 hitting percentage as Auburn (16-6, 7-4) cruised by South Carolina (8-13, 2-9) in four sets (21-25, 25-18, 25-21, 25-17) inside the Carolina Volleyball Center on Wednesday evening.
Offense was the name of the game in the opening set. Behind solid passing, Shanelle Puetz and Kalei Edson had their choice of attackers. Leading the Orange and Blue offense to a .433 hitting percentage, Kate Mansfield secured a team-high four kills, while Lauren Dreves, Liz Markovska and Greer Chambless all had three apiece.
South Carolina opened the frame on an 11-5 start and Auburn had to play catch-up the rest of the set. The Tigers brought it back all the way to 19-17 before the Gamecocks found a burst and ultimately took the lead, 1-0, behind a .514 hitting percentage.
The Tigers flipped the script in set two, though. After a 5-2 run to open the stanza, Auburn never looked back.
It was the defense that stepped up to turn the momentum in favor of the Orange and Blue. After just one block in the opening set, the Tigers forced three rejections in the second.
Offensively, Markovska dialed up six kills to bring her total to nine. Both Dreves and Chambless added three.
Auburn would hold USC to just .029 in the set, solidifying a dominant frame to tie the match, 1-1.
Crouch and Co. picked up the third set right where they left off. An 8-3 spark to open set the Tigers off and running.
Markovska paved the way with four kills on five swings. The senior from Menifee, California would end the evening with 18 kills on a career-high .533 hitting to go with 13 digs for her third double-double of the season.
Puetz and Edson would lead an offense that hit .464, while two blocks apiece from Mansfield and Grace Havlicek kept South Carolina at arm’s length enough for the Tigers to take the lead, 2-1.
Auburn servers were stellar in the fourth and final frame. Dreves, Puetz and Markovska all recorded aces as Auburn pieced together two separate 4-0 runs to create some distance from the Gamecocks.
Four more rejections at the net, combined with the final five kills from Markovska, were all the Tigers needed to wrap up their third-straight victory and second in a row on the road.
WHAT CROUCH HAD TO SAY
Head Coach, Brent Crouch
“Just a great win on the road. The resiliency of this group to deal with all the adversity we’ve had this week is special. Any normal group would be tired after all our travel. This group is not normal, in a good way. South Carolina is a good team, better than their record shows. They have strong arms and can hit hard. Once we started serving a little more aggressively, we were able to get them out of system just enough to make a difference. I like where the offense is at. Obviously, .362 is a big number. The setters did a nice job moving the ball around. But it was great to see Liz (Markovska) deliver like she did today. She’s a special talent and her ability on both sides of the ball, both attacking and digging, is a huge part of our success.”
MATCH NOTES
- Auburn recorded 11 blocks, marking the 12th time the Tigers have reached double digits this season
- Auburn notched five total aces, marking the eighth time the Tigers have recorded at least five in a match
- Auburn’s .362 hitting percentage was the highest since hitting an even .400 against Samford
- Lauren Dreves (10 kills) has reached double digits in six straight matches and has done so 20 times this season
- Kate Mansfield set a career-best .615 hitting percentage
- Mansfield (5 blocks) has recorded at least four blocks in 19 matches this season
- Bel Zimmerman (10 kills) has reached double digits in three of the last five matches
- Alexis Dacosta (13 digs) has reached double digits in 17 matches this season
- Grace Havlicek (5 blocks) has recorded at least five blocks in nine matches this season and has notched at least four in six straight matches
- Liz Markovska (18 kills, 13 digs) recorded her third double-double of the season
- Markovska set a new career high with a .533 hitting percentage