Spartans Look To End First Half Of A-Sun Season On High Note
10/7/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Oct. 7, 2008
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SPARTANBURG, S.C. - Having won three of its last five matches, the USC Upstate volleyball team is looking to make another move in the Atlantic Sun Conference standings with another conference tilt this week, starting with a 3 p.m. Thursday match at Campbell to wrap up the first half of its A-Sun schedule. The Spartans will be looking to exact some revenge against the Camels, as an unfortunate bounce off a rafter in Campbell's old Carter Gym helped send the Spartans to a 3-2 defeat in the 2007 matchup. This year, the Spartans will be playing the Camels in the brand-new John W. Pope, Jr. Convocation Center, which replaced Carter Gym at the conclusion of the 2008 season.
Future Catches Up: USC Upstate Jennifer Calloway's claims on being the youngest coach in the NCAA with 250 wins lasted less than 10 days. Trinity (Conn.)'s Jennifer Bowman, 34, won her 250th career match on Saturday to take the honor from Calloway. Bowman has coached all 11 of her seasons at the Division III level while Calloway has coached 11 seasons at the Division II level and two in Division I, with all 13 seasons of her coaching occuring at USC Upstate. Calloway, 35, is still the youngest coach in Division I with 200 wins.
Back-To-Back: Sophomore Sandra Campbell needs just one more kill to become the first player in the DI era to reach 400 career kills and just 15 kills to become the first player to reach 200 kills in back-to-back seasons.
Daily Double-Double: The Spartans have had a player post a double-double in each of the last three matches. Senior Holly Mauldin started the stretch with a career-high 41 assists and 12 digs in a 3-0 sweep of Stetson and then followed it with 29 assists and 10 digs in a 3-0 sweep of Kennesaw State. Senior Jovana Lubura continued the trend, posting 13 kills and 19 digs against Mercer.
Serbian Sensation
Senior Jovana Lubura has come on strong in the last three weeks for USC Upstate, leading the team with an average of 3.19 kills per set while adding 2.42 digs per set. The hot stretch started for Lubura with a career-high 22 kill effort against UNF on Sept. 19. The 6-2 Serbian posted 11 kills and 10 digs for her second career double-double as Upstate downed Presbyterian, 3-2, on Sept. 23. She was back at it on Sept. 27, when she notched 16 kills and hit .342 to go with eight digs in a sweep of Stetson. The hot play continued this past weekend, as Lubura posted 13 kills in matches with Kennesaw State and Mercer, adding a career-high 19 digs against Mercer.
Double-Double The Fun
Senior Holly Mauldin posted her second consecutive double-double and her fifth of the season with a 28-assist, 10-dig effort against Kennesaw State on Oct. 5. The Upstate setter has 12 doubles in the Upstate Division I era, which is tops in school history, and has 16 in her career.
Sandra Stars
Sophomore Sandra Campbell added two more 10-kill matches to her season total of 12 this weekend, helping her stay among the conference leaders in both hitting percentage and kills. The 6-1 middle blocker is third in the conference with a .314 hitting percentage and is also seventh in kills, averaging 3.08 per set. The sophomore picked up her second career A-Sun Player of the Week nod on Sept. 6 thanks to her All-Tournament performance at the USC Upstate volleyball classic. She also led the Spartans to their first A-Sun win of the season in dramatic 3-2 fashion over ETSU. In the match, Campbell slammed a career-high 19 kills, including the match-winner, and hit a steady .314.
Youth Movement
The three USC Upstate freshman have had an immediate impact on the team this season, with all three appearing in at least 52 of the team's 60 sets so far. Jane Hawryliw is averaging 1.13 kills per set and also adds 1.42 digs per set. The Sasketchewan native posted a match-high 14 kills in Upstate's 3-0 win over Hampton on Sept. 5. Morgan Thomas, a middle blocker, is averaging 1.59 kills and a team-high 0.68 blocks per set. The 6-0 Florida native posted 10 kills to go with four blocks on Oct. 5 against Mercer. Kelsie Queen is averaging 1.48 kills and 1.00 digs per set. She also has 18 blocks in 17 matches. The 5-11 Blythewood, S.C., native posted two five-kill matches this past weekend, with five against both Kennesaw State and Mercer.
A Pair of Aces
Sophomore Megan Healey and freshman Jane Hawryliw are both in the top 10 in the A-Sun in service aces, thanks in part of strong performances from the service line against Kennesaw State. Healey, who is sixth in the conference in aces, is averaging 0.37 per set. She blasted four aces against the Owls, including two in a row that tied the set at 23 in the match-clinching third set on Oct. 4. Hawryliw added three service aces in the match and is currently 10th in the conference, averaging 0.31 aces per set.
Let The A-Sun In
In conference play, several Upstate players are amongst the league leaders. Senior Holly Mauldin is currently fifth in A-Sun play in assists, averaging 8.90 per set. In large part, she has been setting up senior Jovana Lubura (3.06) and sophomore Sandra Campbell (2.88), who are seventh and eighth in the conference in kills, respectively.
