Box Score (.pdf)

Spartanburg, S.C. – The USC Upstate volleyball team dropped a 3-0 decision to the Lipscomb Bisons Friday evening in A-Sun action from the Hodge Center.

The Spartans fall to 9-9 on the season and 0-2 in conference play, while Lipscomb improves to 8-6 overall and 2-0 in the league.

Friday's match was also Dig Pink Night as Upstate wore pink jerseys in support of breast cancer awareness and the Zeta Tau Alpha sorority accepted donations in the lobby of the Hodge Center. All proceeds donated during the match will benefit The Susan G. Komen Foundation for Breast Cancer Awareness and Education.

Alexa Lagaly and Shannon Weiss both led the Spartans with six kills, and Lexi Gober added a team-high 22 assists and nine digs. Kayla Eversgerd contributed five kills and eight digs, while Kaleigh Kelley recorded eight digs.

Brittnay Estes led the Bisons with a match-high 11 kills, and Sophie Kellerman had a double-double on 10 kills and 14 digs. Kayla Ostrom dished out 35 assists and Brittany Thomas posted 10 digs.

Upstate fell behind 5-2 to start the first set but rallied with a 7-4 run to even the score on Katie Bradley's attack error. Lagaly and Weiss teamed up for back-to-back kills to give the Spartans their first lead of the set at 11-9. Lipscomb answered with four consecutive points to take a 13-11 lead, only to see Upstate even the score 13-13 several plays later on a kill by Kayla McAvoy. The teams sat tied three times midway through the frame as Gober made it 18-18 following her service ace. The Bisons, however, ended the set on a 7-3 run as Kellerman gave them the 25-21 win with her kill to go up 1-0 in the match.

Lipscomb began set two the same way it did the opener leading 5-2 on a Kellerman kill. A bad set by Gober would later extend the Bisons lead to 10-5. The Spartans managed to get to within three twice with the last coming at 13-10 on a Molly Spitznagle attack error. Lipscomb then reeled off five straight points to go ahead by seven, 18-11, after Lauren Ford's kill. Estes capped off the second set for the Bisons with a kill, sealing the 25-16 victory.

The opening 16 points of the third set featured seven ties and six lead changes as Weiss made the score 8-8 following her kill. Lipscomb would push its lead to 14-10 after a 6-2 run. Upstate was able to trim its deficit down to two, 15-13, after Weiss and Emily Koelling picked up one kill apiece coming out of a timeout. The Bisons would break the set open with six points in a row as Bri McCombs recorded three service aces during that run, with the last giving them a 21-13 lead. The Spartans used two straight Lipscomb attack errors to cut the advantage to 23-18, but an Upstate service error gave the Bisons the 25-19 win to take the match 3-0.

The Spartans host Northern Kentucky at 3 p.m. tomorrow afternoon. The match will be streamed live on ASun.TV.

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