STATESBORO, Ga. – Facing back-to-back matches for the first time during the 2021 season, USC Upstate nearly pulled off the perfect afternoon on the opening day of the GATA Challenge. Behind its defense in match one, Upstate opened with a sweep of Mercer before seeing a comeback bid spurred by three players with double-digit kills fall short as the Spartans earned a split on the tournament's opening day.
Match One (USC Upstate 3, Mercer 0)
For the second straight weekend, USC Upstate volleyball began its weekend with a victory, sweeping Mercer behind scores of 25-21, 25-18, and 25-16 to open the GATA Challenge.
Friday's tournament-opening win marked the third time this year the Spartans have opened a tournament with a victory after doing so at the Southern Miss Classic and the Saluki Invitational while also marking the team's third victory this season holding its opponent to a sub .110 hitting percentage, holding Mercer to a .109 team hitting efficiency.
Leading the Spartans defensively, senior middle blocker
Alexis Mareko tallied seven total blocks, turning away seven opponent attacks for the third time in her past four matches, claiming a solo block and six block assists against Mercer.
Behind the block, freshman libero
Julia Gladhill paced Upstate with 14 digs, recording her fifth career double-figure dig match, scooping 10 or more ball in five of her six matches as the Spartans' libero.
Offensively, senior outside hitter
Kelly Wiedemann recorded a match-high 14 kills, her seventh double-figure kill match of the season. Finishing just shy of double-digit terminations, senior middle blocker
Renae Watson put home a career-best eight kills, hitting a match-best .583, committing just one error on 18 swings.
Running the Spartan offense, all three of the team's setters finished the match with seven or more assists as sophomore
Emma McElveen and freshman
Kayla Spangler dished out 13 and 10 assists, respectively. Rounding out the group was senior
Allie Hamsher who passed out seven assists in her lone set of action.
In service, Upstate landed six service aces, recording six or more aces for the second consecutive match. Wiedemann finished with a match-best three aces, landing back-to-back aces in the opening points of the second set to capture momentum in the set.
Match Two (Alabama State 3, USC Upstate 1)
Looking to open the GATA Challenge with back-to-back victories, Upstate's bid for a perfect day on the tournament's opening day fell just short as the Spartans' comeback bid fell short, dropping 3-1 to Alabama State behind scores of 21-25, 25-27, 25-16, and 20-25.
Seeking a comeback after just dropping the first two sets of the match, Upstate finished with three hitters recording 10 or more kills in the match, joining the match against Louisiana on August 27 as the only two matches this season with three double-digit kill attackers. Senior outside hitters
Breeana Gamueda and
Kelly Wiedemann each recorded 12 kills to lead the Spartans with junior right-side hitter
Briana Strobert adding 11 terminations while hitting .429 (11 kills with two errors on 21 swings).
Distributing the ball to the Spartan attackers, setters, sophomore
Emma McElveen and senior
Allie Hamsher passed out 19 and 13 assists, respectively while freshman libero
Julia Gladhill chipped in a career-high eight assists in the match.
In addition to her eight assists, Gladhill scooped up a team-high 11 digs in the match—her sixth career double-figure dig match—as Hamsher added eight digs as the duo each neared double-doubles.
At the net, sophomore middle blocker
Nikki Deslatte tallied a season-high four total blocks while Strobert and senior middle blocker
Renae Watson added two blocks apiece.
UP Next for the Spartans
Upstate returns for its final match at the GATA Challenge Saturday afternoon, facing host Georgia Southern at 12:30 p.m. ET with the match airing on ESPN+.
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