Upstate Hosts Kennesaw State in A-Sun Opener
9/26/2014 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Match Notes (.pdf)
Spartanburg, S.C. – The USC Upstate volleyball team opens up Atlantic Sun play, as well as its home schedule, Saturday afternoon when it hosts Kennesaw State at 3 p.m. inside the Hodge Center.
The Spartans began the season with 15 straight road matches including tournaments at Clemson, Liberty, Charleston Southern and Wofford. Upstate is 9-6 overall, and have posted winning streaks of four and three matches, respectively, through the opening contests.
Kayla McAvoy and Kayla Eversgerd pace the Spartan offensive attack as McAvoy has a team-high 148 kills and Eversgerd is one behind her with 147. Shannon Weiss is also in triple-digit kills at 135. Lexi Gober is first on the team with 563 assists and Kaleigh Kelley has contributed a team-best 239 digs. Emily Koelling leads Upstate with 26 total blocks.
The Spartans currently lead the A-Sun in kills, assists and digs, and are second in service aces. Upstate is second nationally in attacks per set, ninth in total attacks, 10th in digs per set and 12th in digs. Gober ranks first in the conference in assists and service aces, and is 15th in the nation in service aces and 22nd in assists. Weiss, nationally, is 21st in service aces. Kelley also leads the league in digs.
Kennesaw State is led by second-year head coach Keith Schunzel. The Owls enter the weekend 6-8 overall after falling in three sets at Georgia Tech Tuesday night. Kelly Marcinek leads the team with 165 kills on the season while Kristi Piedimonte has dished out 408 assists. Six players have at least 10 blocks through their first 14 matches with Marcinek leading the way with 20 (four solo, 16 assisted).
KSU leads the all-time series over the Spartans 8-4 dating back to 2007. Upstate holds a 4-2 advantage playing in the Hodge Center, including a 3-0 victory last season behind a combined 27 kills from Eversgerd and Koelling.
Fans can follow Saturday's match via live stats by clicking here. Updates will also be posted on the Upstate volleyball Twitter page (@UpstateVB).
The Spartans travel to Rock Hill, S.C. next Tuesday to face Winthrop in their final non-conference match of the season.
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