Upstate Set For Second Trip Of Season To Sunshine State
10/29/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Oct. 29, 2008
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SPARTANBURG, S.C. - The USC Upstate volleyball team will hit the road for one last time during the 2008 season this weekend, heading to Jacksonville and North Florida for Atlantic Sun Conference matches. The Spartans will try to stop a six-match skid in conference play as they face both the fifth- and sixth-place teams in the league. The Spartans will be looking to turn the tide against the Jacksonville teams after Jacksonville beat Upstate, 3-0, on Sept. 20, a match in which two sets were decided by less than three points. North Florida has won two straight 3-2 matches against Upstate.
Dig For The Cure: The USC Upstate volleyball team held its first "Dig For The Cure" match on Friday, Oct. 24 against Stetson. The match raised more than $700, with money still coming in, for the Upstate chapter of Komen For The Cure, an organization that is committed to the fight against breast cancer. The Spartans are one of more than 400 college, high school and club volleyball teams across the nation that will sponsor a Dig For The Cure match this year. The initiative, started by former Charlotte head coach Lisa Marston, has raised nearly $400,000 in support of breast cancer in its five years of existence.
Serbian Sensation
Senior Jovana Lubura has put together one of the most impressive streaks in the Spartans' short Division I tenure, as the 6-2 Serbian has strung together four straight double-doubles. Lubura, who has averaged 14 kills and 11.3 digs per set in the last nine matches, started her run of consecutive double-doubles with 14 kills and 14 digs at Mercer on Oct. 18. She followed that with 16 kills and 10 digs against The Citadel, 19 kills and 16 digs against Stetson and 12 kills and 11 digs against Florida Gulf Coast. In the process, Lubura has moved into eighth in the conference in kills per set, averaging 2.78. In conference play, Lubura is averaging 3.13 kills and 2.52 digs per set.
Queen's Killings
Freshman Kelsie Queen helped make her case as one of the top hitters on Upstate's squad last week, as the 5-11 Blythwood, S.C., native posted three straight 15-kill efforts. Averaging 3.46 kills per set, Queen hit .250 during the Spartans' three matches and added 0.92 digs per set. Queen posted 15 kills and hit a lofty .500 as Upstate downed The Citadel on Oct. 21 in four sets. She tied her career-high just three days later against Stetson and then posted a match-high 15 kills against the defending league champions, Florida Gulf Coast, on Oct. 25.
Megan's Milestone
Sophomore Megan Healey became the 23rd Spartan to reach 600 career digs during her 13-dig performance against Stetson on Oct. 24. The 5-5 sophomore libero now has 612 digs in her career, which is just 14 shy of the school's top 20, and she is the only Spartan in the DI era with 500 digs. Healey joined current Spartan, senior Holly Mauldin, in the 500-career-dig group, as Mauldin crossed the mark on Sept. 19 against North Florida. Healey averaged 3.76 digs as a freshman as she totaled 380 during the season, the fifth-best freshman total in school history. This season, the co-captain has led the team in digs in 13 of the team's 23 matches.
The Race For 500
Sophomore Sandra Campbell and senior Jovana Lubura are both on pace to reach Upstate's 500-career kill club by the end of the season. The only question is which one will become the first player in the DI era to reach the mark. Campbell is currently ahead by 30 kills, as she enters the week with 458. Lubura, with 428, has caught up since the start of the A-Sun season, as the 6-2 Serbian is averaging 3.13 kills per set while Campbell averages 2.63. The two players could join just 28 others in Upstate's 500-kill club.
A Thousand Helping Hands
Senior Holly Mauldin enters the week just 65 assists shy of becoming the first player in Upstate's Division I era to reach 1,000 assists. The Columbia, S.C., native is currently sixth in the school's record book with 1,769 career assists and she leads the Spartans with 488 helpers, an average of 6.59 per set, this season.
Mauldin is also just four service aces away from reaching 100 in her career, a mark reached by just 17 others in school history.
