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Kennesaw, Ga. – Kayla Eversgerd netted her 12th double-double of the season Saturday afternoon, but USC Upstate dropped a 3-2 (18-25, 25-19, 25-19, 20-25, 7-15) decision to the Kennesaw State Owls in A-Sun volleyball action from the KSU Convocation Center.
The Spartans fall to 9-15 overall and 0-8 in the league, while the Owls improve to 9-13 on the season and 3-5 in conference play.
Eversgerd led all Upstate players with a match-high 17 kills to go with 13 digs, while Shannon Weiss added a team-best 17 digs. Lexi Gober fell just shy of another double-double as she collected 38 assists and nine digs for the Spartans.
Anaiah Boyer had 14 kills for Kennesaw State and was joined in double-figures by Kelly Marcinek with 12. Boyer also turned in a double-double performance as she added 11 digs. Katarina Morton led all players with 26 digs, and Kristi Piedimonte dished out 35 assists for KSU.
Kennesaw State took four of the first five points of the first set to lead 4-1 on Marcinek's kill. Emily Koelling later cut Upstate's deficit down to 6-4 with her kill, but the Owls picked up the next two points to go back in front by four. Kennesaw State then used a 9-3 run to push their advantage over the Spartans to eight, 16-8, on a block by Boyer and Cierra Royster. Trailing 19-14 midway through the set, Upstate received a kill from Koelling and a combination block by Weiss and Kayla McAvoy to trail by three. The Owls finished the set on a 6-2 run to win 25-18 after a kill by Boyer.
The Spartans split the opening 12 points of the second set with Kennesaw State as Eversgerd gave them a 2-1 lead to start the frame. Back-to-back kills by Eversgerd then gave Upstate the lead back at 7-6 and would not relinquish it the rest of the way. The two kills by Eversgerd sparked a 9-3 Spartans run and led to a 15-10 advantage following Alexa Lagaly's kill. The Owls used three straight kills by Rachel Taylor, Fanise Cannon and Ria Ridley to trim Upstate's lead to 15-13. The Spartans responded with four points in a row capped off when Koelling put them in front 19-13. Kennesaw State made another late charge as Marcinek's service ace made it 20-17, but Upstate held on to win the set 25-19 on a kill by Weiss to even the match at 1-1.
After the intermission break, the Spartans came out in the third set to win by an identical 25-19 score and increase their lead in the match to 2-1. The Owls held an early 3-1 lead to begin the set as Royster put them ahead by two. Marcinek's solo block of a Weiss attack gave Kennesaw State its largest lead of the set at 10-5, but Upstate would control things from there. The Spartans stormed back to tie the score 11-11 on a block by McAvoy and Eversgerd, and then scored the next five to increase their lead to 16-11 courtesy of an Eversgerd kill. The junior later gave Upstate a 19-13 lead, only to see the Owls fight back late. The Spartans held a 23-15 lead before Kennesaw State picked up the next three points to trail by five, forcing an Upstate timeout. McAvoy's kill three plays later gave the Spartans the six-point win.
The Owls raced out to a 6-1 lead in the fourth set as Boyer picked up two kills during that run. Kennesaw State would push its lead to 9-3 several plays later on an attack error by Weiss. Upstate cut its deficit down to two, 11-9, as a ball-handling error by Piedimonte closed a 6-2 run by the Spartans. The Owls came back with a 5-1 run of their own to make it 16-10 on Boyer's kill. Kennesaw State maintained the six-point cushion when a service ace by Alex Huber put the score at 19-13. Upstate made a late charge as a 6-2 run trimmed KSU's lead to 21-19 after Boyer's attack error. That would be as close as the Spartans would get as the Owls scored the final three points of the set to win 25-20, forcing a fifth set.
Kennesaw State logged five blocks en route to a 9-0 lead to open the fifth set with Royster and Marcinek recording the final two. Upstate got back to within seven twice with the last coming at 14-7 on a kill by Eversgerd. Taylor gave the Owls the 15-7 fifth set win to take the match by a 3-2 score.
The Spartans return to the Hodge Center next weekend as they close out their home schedule beginning Friday against North Florida at 6 p.m.
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