Upstate Steps Back into Conference Play this Weekend against Lipscomb, NKU
10/2/2014 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Match Notes
Spartanburg, S.C. – With the non-conference portion of its schedule in the books, the USC Upstate volleyball team returns to the Hodge Center this weekend as it hosts Lipscomb and Northern Kentucky in A-Sun action.
USC Upstate begins the weekend Friday when it faces Lipscomb at 6 p.m. followed by Northern Kentucky at 3 p.m. Saturday. The match versus Lipscomb on Friday will also be Dig Pink Night as all fans are encouraged to wear pink to show support for breast cancer awareness. The Zeta Tau Alpha sorority will also have a table set up at the main entrance of the Hodge Center, and hand out pink ribbons for the fans to wear as well as accept donations.
The Spartans enter the weekend with a 9-8 overall record and 0-1 mark in conference play. Upstate began A-Sun play last weekend with a 3-2 defeat to Kennesaw State in Spartanburg. This weekend marks the opening of a four-match home stand the Spartans as they welcome Florida Gulf Coast and Stetson to the Hodge Center next weekend.
Upstate concluded out-of-conference play Tuesday with a 3-0 loss to Winthrop in Rock Hill. Emily Koelling finished with six kills, while Lexi Gober added 12 assists and seven digs. Kaleigh Kelley had a team-high nine digs.
Kayla Eversgerd and Kayla McAvoy have paced the Spartan offensive attack this season as Eversgerd has a team-high 166 kills and McAvoy is second with 162. Shannon Weiss is also in triple-digit kills at 149. Gober is first on the team with 625 assists and Kelley has contributed a team-best 258 digs for Upstate. Koelling leads the team with 32 total blocks while contributing 105 kills.
The Spartans lead the conference kills, assists and digs, and rank in the top 10 nationally in four categories. Individually, Gober leads the league in assists and service aces, and Kelley in digs. Gober also sits 12th in the nation in service aces.
Lipscomb currently sports a 7-6 overall record and is 1-0 in league play. The Bisons are led by 12th-year head coach Brandon Rosenthal, who is 205-149 all-time as a head coach. Lauren Ford leads the team with 203 kills and Kayla Ostrom has dished out 568 assists. Molly Spitznagle tops the team with 45 total blocks.
Northern Kentucky has the conference's best overall record at 10-4, but are 0-1 in league play. The Norse travel to Kennesaw State Friday evening before facing Upstate. Head coach Liz Hart is in her fourth season at NKU and has an overall record of 75-25. Northern Kentucky has four players with triple-digit kills led by Jenna Ruble with 138. Taylor Snyder leads the Norse with 519 assists, and Mel Stewart has 227 digs.
The Spartans trail the all-time series against Lipscomb 10-0 and Northern Kentucky 4-0.
Fans will be able to follow this weekend's matches on upstatespartans.com via live stats and live video for free on ASun.TV. Live updates can also be found on the Upstate volleyball twitter page (@UpstateVB).
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