Box Score (.pdf)

Spartanburg, S.C. – Kayla Eversgerd and Lexi Gober each had double-doubles for USC Upstate on Saturday afternoon, but the Spartans would fall 3-1 (21-25, 25-14, 10-25, 17-25) to the Northern Kentucky Norse in conference play from the Hodge Center.

Upstate's record drops to 9-10 overall and 0-3 in the league, while Northern Kentucky improves to 11-5 on the season and 1-2 in A-Sun play.

Eversgerd finished with a team-high 19 digs for the Spartans to go with 10 kills, and Gober added 33 assists and 10 digs. Eversgerd and Gober were two of four players to record double-digit digs as Kaleigh Kelley had 11 and Rebecca Shearer 10. Kayla McAvoy led USC Upstate with 14 kills.

Taylor Snyder collected a double-double for the Norse on 41 assists and 14 digs, and Mel Stewart contributed a match-high 25 digs. Jayden Julian collected 14 kills and was joined by Keely Creamer with 10.

Northern Kentucky opened the first set with seven of the first eight points as Jenna Ruble put it ahead 7-1 with her kill. Upstate rallied with a 7-3 run of its own to cut the Norse lead to 10-8 on Gober's kill, and two kills later by Eversgerd gave the Spartans their first lead at 13-12. From there, the teams swapped the lead back-and-forth with Upstate holding a two-point advantage twice, with the last coming at 19-17 as Alexa Lagaly capped a 4-0 run with her kill. The Spartans were held to just two points after that as Northern Kentucky finished on an 8-2 run to win the first set 25-21.

Upstate controlled the second set as it trailed just once when Tristen Simpson gave the Norse a 2-1 lead. The Spartans broke the frame open with an 8-3 run to extend their advantage to six, 10-4, on Julian's attack error. Northern Kentucky only managed to get to within five after Ruble made it 15-10. Behind the serving of Dominique Arnold, Upstate recorded seven straight points to push its lead out to 22-10 as Eversgerd and McAvoy combined for three kills, and Arnold provided a kill and service ace. Emily Koelling gave the Spartans the 25-14 set win with a kill, evening the match at 1-1.

The start of the third set saw Upstate grab a quick 3-1 lead after taking advantage of two Norse attack errors. Northern Kentucky answered with six straight points to take a 7-3 lead, and would then string together another six points in a row to increase its cushion to 14-4. McAvoy and Eversgerd got the Spartans as close as nine after that, but the Norse concluded the set on a 9-3 run to win 25-10.

The fourth set saw both teams put together a string of runs in the opening stages beginning with four consecutive points by Upstate to lead 4-1 on a service ace by Gober. Northern Kentucky then scored five straight to tie the set 5-5, but the Spartans would take the lead back after an NKU service error and kill from Shannon Weiss. The Norse took the lead for good after that as they posted ten points in a row with Creamer's kill putting them ahead 15-7. Upstate fought back to cut its deficit to 19-14 following three straight kills by Gober, Eversgerd and Koelling, forcing Northern Kentucky into a timeout. NKU held off the Spartan rally to take the set 25-17 on Drew Hendricks' kill, giving it the 3-1 match victory.

Upstate returns to action Friday, Oct. 10 when it welcomes Florida Gulf Coast to the Hodge Center for a 6 p.m. match on ESPN3.

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