Box Score Spartanburg, S.C. – Three Spartans finished with double-doubles Saturday afternoon, but it was not enough as the Jacksonville Dolphins defeated the USC Upstate volleyball team 3-1 in A-Sun play inside the Hodge Center.
Upstate falls to 12-7 on the season and 0-3 in A-Sun play, while Jacksonville improves to 5-10 overall and 2-1 in the conference.
Lexi Gober, Madison Haake and Kayla Eversgerd each had double-doubles for the Spartans. Gober tallied her 10th double-double of the year on 21 assists and 19 digs, Haake her seventh double-double with 23 assists and 16 digs, and Eversgerd picked up her seventh double-double after tallying 13 kills and 13 digs. Shannon Weiss added 19 digs and Callie Yeargin 10 kills.
Kelly Koop had a match-high 14 kills for Jacksonville, while Cristina Finan and Jizzyan Gesualdo combined for double-doubles. Finan contributed 10 kills and 14 digs, and Gesualdo recorded 48 assists and 17 digs.
The Spartans traded the opening 10 points of the first set with the Dolphins after an attack error by Eversgerd put the score at 5-5. Upstate answered with a 5-2 run to push its lead to 12-7 following a kill from Haake. The Spartans took their largest lead of the set at 21-14 after reeling off three straight points capped by an attack error from Emily Laskelle. Jacksonville cut the lead down to five, 23-18, but Eversgerd and Rebecca Shearer combined for two straight kills to give Upstate the 25-19 win.
The Dolphins responded in the second set with a 25-18 victory highlighted by a 5-1 run to begin the frame. Jacksonville later extended its lead to 9-4 before the Spartans trimmed their deficit to 13-9 on a combination block by Eversgerd and Koelling. The Dolphins broke the set open with a 9-5 run to lead 22-14. Upstate made a late charge but Ana Nieto-Gomez won the set for JU with her kill.
The Spartans led 9-5 early in the third set after Eversgerd picked up one of her 13 kills in the match. Jacksonville answered with an 11-5 run to take a 16-14 lead and forcing Upstate into a timeout. The Spartans ended the run with a Yeargin kill and trailed by two, 18-16, several plays later on Koelling's kill. The Dolphins ended the set by scoring seven of the final nine points to win 25-18.
Haake put Upstate to within two, 6-4, in the early stages of the fourth set, but Jacksonville posted a 9-1 run to go ahead 15-5. The Dolphins led by as many as 13 points three times in the later periods with the first coming at 23-10 on a kill by Olga Nushtayeva. Finan won the set for JU as her kill made it 25-12, giving Jacksonville the 3-1 match victory.
The Spartans are on the road for the next four matches beginning Friday, Oct. 9 as they face Stetson at 7 p.m. in DeLand, Fla.
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