Volleyball
3
Winner Gardner-Webb GW 2-4,2-4 Big South
2
USC Upstate USCU 1-5,1-5 Big South
Winner
Gardner-Webb GW
2-4,2-4 Big South
3
Final
2
USC Upstate USCU
1-5,1-5 Big South
Set Scores
Team 1 2 3 4 5 F
Gardner-Webb GW 16 25 25 21 15 (3)
USC Upstate USCU 25 22 19 25 9 (2)

Game Recap: Women's Volleyball |

Spartans Fall in Five-Setter to Gardner-Webb

SPARTANBURG, S.C. – USC Upstate volleyball started off Friday night's match against Gardner-Webb with a dominating 25-16 win in the opening set, but ultimately fell in five sets to the Runnin' Bulldogs (25-16, 22-25, 19-25, 25-21, 9-15) in match two of the back-to-back series.

The Spartans jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the first set and went on an 8-0 run to push their lead to 15-4 in the frame. Gardner-Webb would make a push and cut its deficit to as little as 20-15, but Upstate took the last three points and won the frame 25-16 on a bad set by the Bulldogs.

Gardner-Webb responded by opening the second with a 4-0 run and built up to a 6-1 lead to force an Upstate timeout, and Zelasia Edwards came out of that timeout with a big kill for the Spartans. Upstate fought its way back in with a 5-0 run to cut its deficit to 11-9 and the set would go back-and-forth for a while, but the Spartans could never quite capture the lead as they dropped the set 25-22.

Upstate went up 5-1 to start the third but the Bulldogs slowly came back before taking a 16-13 lead on a 4-0 run. The two teams once again went back-and-forth until Gardner-Webb took the last three points and ended the set 25-19 with a service ace.

The fourth set started out super close, but Upstate eventually took a 20-14 lead on a 4-0 run. The Bulldogs would fight back to 23-20, but Briana Strobert secured the set-ending kill to force a fifth frame.

The Spartans quickly found themselves in a 5-0 hole in the fifth, and despite a three straight points that cut their deficit to 8-6, ending up dropping the set 15-9.

Notes
Alexis Mareko recorded a match-high 15 kills while also having two service aces and a team-high five blocks.

Briana Strobert had 14 kills and three blocks on the night.

Emma McElveen racked up 27 assists while Bruna Avila was close behind with 23.

Scout Hoffmeier collected a team-high 25 digs on the night.

UP Next for the Spartans
The Spartans head back out on the road for a pair of matches at Charleston Southern next Thursday and Friday, Feb. 25-26.

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