Box Score (.pdf)

Spartanburg, S.C. – The USC Upstate volleyball team dropped a 3-0 (16-25, 20-25, 19-25) decision Friday evening to the Florida Gulf Coast Eagles on Senior Night inside the Hodge Center.

Upstate falls to 14-13 overall and 2-9 in the A-Sun, while Florida Gulf Coast improves to 20-8 on the season and 9-2 in league play.

Following the conclusion of the match, the Spartans held their Senior Night festivities honoring Kayla Eversgerd, Javon Gates, Lexi Gober and Shannon Weiss.

Gober led Upstate with 18 assists and nine digs, while Madison Haake and Emily Koelling each had a team-high seven kills. Eversgerd recorded a team-best 11 digs and Haake added nine.

Amanda Carroll led all players with 16 kills and Leigh Pudwill joined her in double-figures with 10. Maggie Rick dished out 38 assists and Vanessa Benke contributed 19 digs.

The Eagles opened the first set capturing five of the opening six points to lead 5-1 after an attack error by Callie Yeargin. The Spartans answered back with a 10-5 run to go in front 11-10 as Eversgerd logged three of her five kills during that stretch. Florida Gulf Coast followed with the next five points to take the lead back at 15-11 following a combination block from Rick and Lauren Tutwiler. FGCU ended the first set on a 5-1 run to win 25-16.

Upstate split the first 10 points of the second set with Florida Gulf Coast and tied the score at 5-5 when Rebecca Shearer and Brianna Tellschow teamed up for a block. The Eagles broke the set open courtesy of an 11-4 run to take a 16-9 lead on Karissa Rhoades' service ace. The Spartans managed to trim their deficit down to 23-19 late on Carroll's attack error, but FGCU captured the set 25-20 after a kill by Pudwill.

Upstate took an early 6-3 lead in the third set after Haake and Koelling combined for three straight points. Haake and Koelling each had a kill in that series, and also combined for a block to give the Spartans the early three-point advantage. The Eagles rallied to take a 7-6 lead before the Spartans went back ahead by two and maintained it when Eversgerd made the score 12-10 with another kill. Florida Gulf Coast used a 7-2 run to lead 17-14 on an Upstate service error. Pudwill won the set, and match, for FGCU as her solo block put the final score at 25-19.

Upstate hosts Stetson Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m. in its home finale.

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