Quimby, Jacobsen Fly Spartans Past Ospreys, 3-2
10/23/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Oct. 23, 2009
SPARTANBURG, S.C. - Over the course of the past 37 years, the G.B. Hodge Center has seen plenty of hotly-contested matches, so on a night when the temperature in the arena's temperature reached the high 80s due to a faulty heat pump, it was no surprise that the USC Upstate volleyball team kicked the heat up a notch late in the evening.
Down two sets, the Spartans made a dramatic and emotional comeback to down a team that had once served as one of the squad's biggest puzzles, as Upstate defeated North Florida, 3-2 (20-25, 25-27, 25-22, 27-25, 15-12) in Atlantic Sun Conference action on Friday night.
For the Spartans (7-16 overall, 3-10 A-Sun), it was more than an emotional five-set win over a conference team. It was Upstate's second straight at the Hodge Center against the Lady Ospreys, a former Peach Belt Conference rival at the Division II level. North Florida holds a 10-3 advantage at the Hodge in the all-time series, with the Spartans only wins coming on Nov. 22, 2008 and Oct. 8, 1994, when Upstate's 14th-year head coach Jennifer Calloway was still on the court as a then-USC Spartanburg setter.
It was also the first time in the Spartans' D-I era and since a 3-2 win over UNC Pembroke on Oct. 30, 2004 that the Spartans came back to win after being down two sets.
"It really just came down to us believing in ourselves and coming together," Andree said. "We've had a winning record here since we played Wofford and we really wanted to keep that. We just told each other we weren't going to lose and we just went after it."
Leading the way for the Spartans were a plethora of sparkling performances, including a career-high 18 kills to go with 13 digs by freshman Mindy Quimby (Keenesburg, Colo./Weld Central), a career-high 10 blocks to go with eight kills by junior Erin Jacobsen (Virginia, Minn./Iowa Lakes C.C.) and a season-high 10 digs from senior Karla Andree (Cypress, Calif./Cypress C.C.).
The Spartans matched sideouts with the Lady Ospreys (10-14 overall, 4-10 A-Sun) in the fifth set, until Andree posted an ace to take a 5-4 lead. An Osprey attack error gave Upstate a 6-4 lead but the Ospreys came back to tie the set at seven. The Spartans responded as sophomore Morgan Thomas (Plantation, Fla./St. Thomas Aquinas) posted a hard kill down the middle and after switiching sides, Bucciferro notched a perfect kill on a little dump to the middle of the floor. The Ospreys kept cutting the lead to one point, but a block by sophomores Thomas and Kelsie Queen (Blythewood, S.C./Ridge View). The teams traded sideouts, with Queen posting her first kill of the set to give Upstate a 14-12 lead. After an Osprey timeout, an Osprey attack went long, setting the Spartans off on an emotional celebration.
Both Thomas and Jacobsen paced Upstate in the fifth set with three kills and a block while Andree made a three point-saving digs and added an ace and an assist in the set to pace the defense.
Down 22-19 in the fourth set, Upstate went on an 8-3 run to close out a shocking 27-25 win to set up the dramatic fifth set. Quimby posted back-to-back kills to cut the lead to one and after an Osprey attack error tied the set, the teams traded sideouts, until, with the set tied at 25, a service error was followed by a solo block by Thomas, one of five blocks, to give the Spartans the set.
The Spartans fell behind 4-0, but like many moments during the night, the team turned to Mindy Quimby, who started a four-point run by the Spartans with two kills. Junior Katie Downey (Belleville, Ill./Belleville West) also added a kill in the stretch to go with a block by Queen and Jacobsen. The Ospreys took another three-point lead at 10-7, but Quimby provided two more kills on a 5-2 Spartan run to tie the set at 12. The teams kept battling back-and-forth, with neither team gaining more than two-point advantage until a kill by Danija Medina gave the Ospreys a 22-19 lead.
In the fourth set alone, Quimby notched eight kills and added two digs, as she tried to keep pace with UNF's Kaley Read, who was limited to a single kill in the fourth set after posting 19 in the first three sets.
"Mindy was a rock star," Jacobsen said. "I knew every time she went up, she was going to put it on the floor."
The Spartans took a 6-3 lead in the third set after a kill by Thomas, but the Ospreys fought all the way back to take a 9-8 lead after a kill by Agata Dawidowicz. The Spartans, however, tied the set on a kill by Quimby and the team kept a slim lead, until, with the score 14-13, a back row kill by Andree started a 5-0 run, giving Upstate a 19-13 lead. Although the Ospreys fought back within a point at 23-22, a pair of errors kept them from continuing the comeback to give Upstate the 25-22 win.
Upstate had two set points in the second set at 24-23 and 25-24, but two kills by Dawidowicz and one by Marija Pantovic sent the Ospreys' into the locker room with a two-set advantage. In the first set, Upstate came back from a 13-9 deficit to tie the set at 19, but the Ospreys, thanks to two kills by Pridgeon, closed the set on a 6-1 run.
Jacobsen's 10 blocks tied a D-I era record for Upstate and were the most for the Spartans since Sandra Campbell posted 10 blocks against Mercer in a five-set win on Nov. 2, 2007.
"Erin was awesome," Quimby said. "We knew we had solid blocking and that just helped the defense out so much."
Freshman Emily Sanders (Sullivan, Ill./Sullivan) posted 22 assists and six digs to go with senior Morgan Bucciferro (Joliet, Ill./Minooka Community), who tied a career-high with five kills to go with 24 assists and three digs.
Downey notched four kills and five digs to go with a season-high seven blocks, as she tied her career-high in assisted blocks with the same number. Queen notched eight kills to go with seven digs and a career-high five blocks and Thomas posted seven kills and five blocks. Junior Megan Healey (St. Louis, Mo./Ursuline Academy) led the Spartans with 15 digs.
Read led the Ospreys with her 24 kills, eight digs and five blocks. Paige Pridgeon added 12 kills, 19 digs and five blocks and Dawidowicz added 17 kills for the Ospreys, who posted 13 more kills in the match than Upstate, but also 12 more attack errors. Jessica Catelano notched a match-high 33 assists to go with six digs and Chelsea Rabe added 14 digs to go with Nallelis Sanfeliz's 12 digs and eight kills.
The Spartans wrap up their A-Sun weekend as second-place Jacksonville comes to the Hodge Center for a 3 p.m. match on Saturday.
