COLUMBIA, S.C. — In 2023, Victoria Harris was on her way to helping Caridnal Newman chase down a third consecutive SCISA state championship in volleyball.
But in August of that year, Harris suffered a torn ACL which led to surgery in October. As a result, Harris was a spectator when the Cardinals pulled off the three-peat.
In January of this year, the South Carolina signee enrolled in January which allowed her to see how the program was run from the inside, even though she was limited in what she could do on the court.
More than year later, Harris and the Gamecocks are still playing as the calendar has shifted to December. South Carolina plays Dayton Thursday in the Waco Regional and Harris has played a major role in USC's return to the NCAA Tournament.
Harris was on the court for all 27 matches and from her libero position, she earned SEC All-Freshman honors. Her 381 digs are the second-most by a Gamecock freshman in program history, behind only Fernanda Laires’ total of 470 in 1996. She had four 20-dig games this fall, most by a freshman in the program’s SEC era (1991), topped by a 27-dig performance on Nov. 13 at LSU. It was the most in a single game by any freshman Gamecock in the rally-scoring era and the ninth-highest total overall, earning her SEC Freshman of the Week honors on Nov. 18.