Upstate Volleyball Set for Mid-Week Match and Weekend Pair
9/26/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
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SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The USC Upstate volleyball team (3-9, 0-1 A-Sun) is set to host Gardner-Webb (4-10) for a 7 p.m. match Tuesday, Sept. 27, before heading to Nashville, Tenn., this weekend to face two Atlantic Sun Conference foes.
Upstate opens the week welcoming the Runnin' Bulldogs to the Hodge Center tomorrow night. The Spartans lead Gardner-Webb in the overall series 23-10 with a 12-3 advantage at home. In the teams' last meeting Sept. 14, 2010, Upstate dropped a 3-1 decision at Gardner-Webb.
The Spartan squad travels to Music City this weekend, taking on a pair of A-Sun teams. Upstate squares off with Lipscomb (7-6, 2-0 A-Sun) Friday, Sept. 30 at 7:30 p.m. and Belmont (11-6, 2-0 A-Sun) Saturday, Oct. 1 at 3 p.m. The Spartans fell last week in their conference-opener 3-0 on the road at ETSU. In the conference standings, Belmont and Lipscomb are ranked first and second, respectively, while Upstate is seventh.
Lipscomb holds a 6-0 advantage in the all-time series against Upstate with a 3-0 mark at home. Last time out, Upstate fell to the Bisons 3-1 Oct. 9, 2010 in Spartanburg, S.C. Belmont also has a 6-0 record against the Spartans, including a 3-0 mark at home. The Bruins picked up a 3-0 win against the Spartans Oct. 8, 2010 in Spartanburg, S.C.
Seniors Morgan Thomas and Kelsie Queen lead the Spartans with 106 and 88 kills, respectively. Thomas ranks 12th in the conference in kills per set with 2.65. Defensively, sophomore Morgan Page has a team-best with 165 digs, followed by junior Emily Sanders with 132. Page ranks fifth in the A-sun in digs per set with 4.12, while Sanders is 11th with 3.20. Thomas leads the defensive charge at the net with 28 total blocks on the season, while freshman Kayla McAvoy tallies 24.
Upstate's match against Gardner-Webb will be streamed live on ASun.TV. Live statistics links for all three matches will be available here. Follow the Spartans this season on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
