Upstate-Hofstra Box (PDF) | Princeton-Upstate Box (PDF)
Hempstead, N.Y. – The USC Upstate volleyball team finished play in the Hofstra Invitational Saturday, dropping a pair of matches to Hofstra, 3-1, and a thriller to Princeton, 3-2.
Upstate battled in four sets against Hofstra, losing by scores of 25-17, 20-25, 25-14 and 25-18. The Spartans fell to Princeton by scores of 25-22, 22-25, 24-26, 25-22 and 10-15. Upstate fell to 0-8 on the year in closing out the final of three tournaments to open the 2013 season. The Spartans will return to action next Friday and Saturday, opening A-Sun play at Kennesaw State and Mercer.
Kayla Eversgerd (Breese, Ill.) received her third all-tournament honor of the year after earning all-tournament honors this weekend. She finished the three matches with 33 kills and 47 digs.
Princeton 3, Upstate 2
For the second time this season, Upstate opened its match against Princeton with a win in the first set, claiming a 25-22 victory to take a 1-0 lead in the match. The teams battled for control early before Princeton opened a 10-8 lead. Upstate fought right back with a 4-0 lead to take a 12-10 advantage.
From that point on, the teams went back and forth before Princeton opened a 21-20 lead late in the set. Upstate scored the next three points on a Tiger service error and kills from Kayla Eversgerd (Breese, Ill.) and Javon Gates (Indianapolis, Ind.) to open a 23-21 lead. Princeton scored two of the next three points to take the score to a 24-23 lead for the Spartans. Upstate's Morgan Page (Woodstock, Ga.), seeing her first action of the season this weekend after missing the first two weekends with an injury, ended the set with an ace to give the Spartans a 25-23 win.
The teams continued an entertaining battle in the second set as well. After Upstate opened an early 3-1 lead, neither team claimed a lead more than one point until the Spartans took a 13-11 advantage as the set ventured into the midway point. Princeton fought back to tie the set at 16-16, but the Spartans went on a 4-1 run to open a 20-17 lead and looked like they would move toward taking a 2-0 lead in the match. However, the Tigers fought back with six consecutive points to take a 23-20 lead and went on for the 25-22 win to even the match at 1-1.
Tension continued to be the theme in the third set as Upstate would open leads and watch as Princeton would fight back. Eventually, the Tigers would use a 6-0 lead to close out the set and take a 26-24 win and a 2-1 lead in the match.
Upstate used a 6-1 lead to open an 8-3 lead in the set. Princeton fought back to get within one at 8-7, but the Spartans battled back to extend their lead to as many as seven at 15-8 and 16-9. The Tigers outscored Upstate 9-2 to tie the set at 18-18 before the Spartans used a 6-2 run to take a 24-20 lead. However, errors and a final kill by the Tigers allowed Princeton to close the set with six straight points to take the win and the set.
The fourth set was nearly a mirror image of the third. The only difference was that Upstate held off a late Princeton rally to take a 25-22 win and send the match to a fifth and deciding set. The Spartans again opened an 8-3 lead early in the frame and extended the advantage to 12-6. Princeton fought back to eventually tie the set at 17-17. With Upstate leading 19-18, the Spartans used a 4-0 run to open a 23-18 advantage. The teams traded the next two points to get the Spartans within a point of the set at 24-19. Princeton fought back with three consecutive points, but Upstate closed out the set on a Shannon Weiss (Highland, Ill.) kill to win 25-22 and send the match to a fifth set.
Princeton started the fifth set off quickly, opening a 3-0 lead and holding a 6-1 advantage. Upstate got within 7-4 before the Tigers extended its lead to 11-4. The teams split the next six points as Princeton took the score to 14-7. The Spartans would not give up and rattled off three straight points to get within 14-10, but the Tigers got the next point to take the 15-10 win in the set and a 3-2 win in the match.
Emily Koelling (Bartelso, Ill.) turned in a consistent effort throughout the match and led Upstate with 17 kills and four blocks. Eversgerd and Weiss each tallied 12 kills, while Eversgerd led the Spartans with 29 digs. Lexi Gober (Edwardsville, Ill.) totaled 55 assists and 21 digs.
Hofstra 3, Upstate 1
Lexi Gober (Edwardsville, Ill.) led Upstate in the match against Hofstra, turning in a double-double with 32 assists and 13 digs. Kayle Eversgerd (Breese, Ill.) tallied 11 kills, while Alexa Lagaly (Greenville, S.C.) added 10 kills for the Spartans.
Hofstra used a large run early in the first set to grab the lead and never let Upstate back in the set en route to opening a 1-0 lead in the match. With the set tied at 2-2, Hofstra went on a 6-0 run and extended its lead to as much as eight points to hold off the Spartans.
Upstate rallied back in the second set. The Spartans battled evenly early in the set before falling behind by five, 13-8, midway through. However, Upstate used a 12-2 run to open a 20-15 lead and went on for the five-point win.
With the match even at one set apiece, Upstate and Hofstra battled for control early in the third set. The teams went back and forth. With the score tied at 8-8, Hofstra, though, used an 11-1 run to open a 19-9 lead and went on to win by 11 in the set to open a 2-1 lead in the match.
The fourth set began much like the third with the teams battling back and forth. With the set tied at 7-7, Hofstra used a small 3-0 run to open a 10-7 lead. From that point on, Upstate could only get as close as two points the rest of the way as Hofstra took the win in the set and the match. Kelsie Wills led Hofstra with 18 kills in the match.
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