SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Returning to its home floor after its momentous victory to open the weekend, USC Upstate volleyball followed up the win with another commanding victory, sweeping Gardner-Webb Saturday afternoon at the G.B. Hodge Center.
Behind set scores of 25-17, 26-19, 25-22, the Spartans captured their fourth consecutive victory at the Hodge, the program's longest winning streak on its home floor since ending the 2021 season with four straight victories.
Collecting 41 kills with 13 errors on 112 swings, Upstate posted a .250 team hitting percentage—the team's highest hitting percentage in Big South Conference play. Leading the Spartans, senior middle blocker
Alexis Mareko tallied a career-best hitting percentage (min. 10 attempts), hitting .727 with nine kills and one error on 11 attacks.
Mareko headlined a trio of Spartan attackers with nine kills apiece, joined in the trio by senior outside hitters
Breeana Gamueda and
Kelly Wiedemann. Behind the trio, sophomore middle blocker
Nikki Deslatte tallied five kills with senior setter/right-side hitter
Allie Hamsher and junior right-side hitter
Briana Strobert adding four terminations each.
Leading Upstate's offense to its best team hitting percentage in conference play, Hamsher and sophomore setter
Emma McElveen dished out 17 and 14 assists, respectively. Adding to her 14 assists, McElveen tallied the first double-double of her career with 10 assists.
Joining McElveen with 10 or more digs, freshman libero
Julia Gladhill's 13 digs and Gamueda's 10 digs secured Upstate its third consecutive match with three or more players reaching double-digit digs.
With seven total blocks Saturday, the Spartans' defense has tallied five or more team blocks in seven consecutive matches. Deslatte led Upstate at the net, collecting four total blocks, including a career-high two solo blocks.
UP Next for the Spartans
Following its two victories at home to open its homestand, Upstate welcomes rival UNC Asheville to the Hodge Tuesday evening. First serve is set for 6 p.m. ET.
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