Box Score (.pdf)

Rock Hill, S.C. – The USC Upstate volleyball team wrapped up non-conference play Tuesday evening with a 3-0 (17-25, 11-25, 11-25) loss to the Winthrop Eagles inside the Winthrop Coliseum.

The Spartans fall to 9-8 on the season while Winthrop improves to 12-6 overall.

Emily Koelling led Upstate with six kills, and Lexi Gober added 12 assists and seven digs. Kaleigh Kelley had a team-high nine digs for the Spartans.

Alina Sopizhuk recorded a double-double for the Eagles on 10 kills and 12 digs, and Maria Volstad and Nikki Drost added 14 and 10 digs apiece. Jessie Vicic dished out 21 assists.

Upstate quickly fell behind Winthrop 3-1 to begin set one, but answered with four of the next five points to lead 5-4 on Kayla McAvoy's kill. Winthrop took the lead back two plays later on back-to-back kills by Sopizhuk and Rachel Lenz. Brianna Gray later extended the Eagles lead to 11-7 on her kill. The Spartans rallied from five down to get to within two, 14-12, after capitalizing on a Lenz attack error to cap a run of three straight points. Upstate kept the Winthrop advantage at two until it evened the set at 16-16 following a ball handling error by Kelly Scott.  The Eagles finished on a 9-1 run to take the opening set 25-17.

The Spartans split the opening eight points of the second set as they tied the score 4-4 on Sopizhuk's error. Winthrop countered with a 6-0 run to push its advantage to 10-4. McAvoy's solo block would trim Upstate's deficit to 14-9, but were limited to two points after that. Ahead 16-10, the Eagles concluded the set on a 9-1 run, and won 25-11 to lead the match 2-0.

Winthrop used a 9-3 run to begin the third set as two attack errors by McAvoy and Kayla Eversgerd gave it a six-point lead. The Eagles recorded six consecutive points to increase their lead to 15-4, and later made it 19-6 on a kill by Gray. Gober halted the Winthrop run with her kill to make the score 19-7, but the Eagles picked up six of the final 10 points to win the set 25-11, and match 3-0.

The Spartans return to the Hodge Center Friday night when they host Lipscomb at 6 p.m. The match will be streamed on ASun.TV.

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