RADFORD, Va. – For the fifth time in 2021 and the fourth time in Big South Conference play, USC Upstate volleyball had multiple players record a double-double as the Spartans wrapped the first leg of its two-game road trip Friday night at Radford.
Despite the two double-doubles and three players with double-digit digs, Upstate fell on the road in four sets as Radford captured the match behind scores of 17-25, 25-18, 25-23, and 25-20.
For the second straight match, senior outside hitter
Kelly Wiedemann notched a double-double, posting 13 kills and 12 digs against the Highlanders as she was joined by fellow senior outside hitter
Breeana Gamueda with a double-double as she collected 13 kills and 13 digs in the match.
Her double-double against Radford is the sixth of the season for Wiedemann with Gamueda's double-double representing her fourth in 2021. Scooping up 12 and 13 balls, respectively, Wiedemann and Gamueda each reached 300 career digs in their Spartan careers, each finishing the match with exactly 300 career digs.
Joining the duo with double-figure digs and a significant career milestone in the category, senior libero
Mackenzie Marcum led Upstate with a match-high-tying 17 digs. Her dig total pushed her past 850 career digs for her career as she's the ninth player in the program's Division I era to reach the milestone. She finished the match with 865 career digs, moving to eighth in the D1 era in career digs.
Hitting another career milestone, Marcum became the seventh player in the D1 era to land 75 career service aces, collecting two winners against Radford. She joined Wiedemann with a pair of aces as Upstate landed seven aces as a team and have landed six or more aces in each of the team's last three matches.
Behind Wiedemann and Gamueda on the kill leaderboard, sophomore middle blocker
Nikki Deslatte tallied seven terminations, totaling five or more kills for the fourth consecutive match. She also made her presence felt defensively as she collected a career and match-high seven total blocks, having eclipsed five or more total blocks for the fourth straight match.
Running the Spartan offense, each of Upstate's setters neared a double-double in the match as senior setter
Allie Hamsher dished out 23 assists and collected nine digs while sophomore setter
Emma McElveen added 21 assists and seven digs. The duo each surpassed career milestones in the match as Hamsher collected her 750
th career assist in the match with McElveen tallying the 350
th assist of her career.
UP Next for the Spartans
Upstate continues its two-game road swing with another midweek match, travelling to Presbyterian on Tuesday. Match time from Clinton, S.C. is set for 6 p.m. ET.
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