Spartans Finish Home Schedule this Weekend with UNF, Jacksonville
10/30/2014 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Match Notes
Spartanburg, S.C. – The USC Upstate volleyball team closes out its home season this weekend as the Spartans welcome the North Florida Ospreys and Jacksonville Dolphins to the Hodge Center for a pair of A-Sun matches.
Upstate starts the weekend Friday evening when it faces North Florida at 6 p.m. before hosting Jacksonville at 3 p.m. Saturday afternoon.
The Spartans enter the weekend with a 9-15 overall record and 0-8 mark in conference play. Upstate is back in action for the first time since last Saturday when it dropped a 3-2 decision at Kennesaw State as Kayla Eversgerd picked up her 12th double-double of the season. Eversgerd led the Spartans with 17 kills to go with her 13 digs, and Shannon Weiss added a team-high 17 digs. Lexi Gober fell just short of a double-double as she finished with 38 assists and nine digs.
Eversgerd leads the Upstate offense as the junior has tallied 243 kills this season and is second with 294 digs, just three behind team-leader Kaleigh Kelley. Four other Spartans also have triple-digit kills in Kayla McAvoy (217), Weiss (203), Emily Koelling (145) and Alexa Lagaly (125). Gober has dished out a team-high 774 assists and Koelling leads the squad in blocks with 54.
Upstate trails in the all-time series to North Florida 30-6 and 9-3 versus Jacksonville. The Spartans fell 3-0 at Jacksonville on Oct. 17 and 3-2 against North Florida the following day.
The Ospreys come in with a 10-14 record and are 3-5 in the A-Sun. UNF is led by Courtney Miller with 274 kills, while Cari Whitmire leads the conference in digs at 449. Morgan Van Alstine and Cameron McGuire are second and third, respectively, in the league in blocks as Van Alstine sits at 82 with McGuire just one behind at 81. Abby Fesl and Carinne Turner have combined for 941 assists this season as Fesl tops the team with 537 and Turner chipping in 404.
The Dolphins currently have a 12-11 overall record and are 3-5 in conference play. Sammie Strausbaugh is first in the A-Sun, and 16th nationally, with 377 kills. She also leads the team with 275 digs and 34 service aces. Jizzian Gesualdo has a team-best 775 assists while Olga Nushtayeva boasts 76 blocks.
Fans can follow this weekend's action on www.upstatespartans.com via live stats. Both matches will be televised on ESPN3. Live updates will also be posted on the Upstate volleyball Twitter page (@UpstateVB).
The Spartans travel to Florida Gulf Coast and Stetson next weekend to start a four-match road trip to end the season.
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