Volleyball Will Don Teal Saturday in the Program's Annual "Fight Like A Spartan" Match

SPARTANBURG, S.C. – "Fight Like A Spartan" isn't just a rallying cry for USC Upstate, it's athletic programs, or the Spartan Army, it's much more than that.

Each year, Upstate Athletics and the Gibbs Cancer Center & Research Institute—located at Spartanburg Regional Medical Center—team up to host multiple "Fight Like A Spartan" nights throughout the year.

Saturday, the Spartans fight sees Upstate volleyball bringing awareness to the fight against Ovarian Cancer. With September being Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month, Upstate and the South Carolina Ovarian Cancer Foundation have partnered, outfitting the G.B. Hodge Center with teal accents in preparations for Saturday's volleyball home opener versus Marshall.

You may ask, surrounding a sporting community whose major philanthropic initiative is the American Volleyball Coaches Association and the Side-Out Foundation's Dig Pink movement, why go teal?

For Upstate volleyball, the connection lies in the personal connection head coach Ronda Shirley has with the disease after witnessing her sister-in-law Nadine's battle with Ovarian Cancer.

"I really thought growing up when I was young, I thought she was my sister because she was always around. She really to me was a mom… she was just that motherly person to me. To me, she wasn't a sister-in-law."

Nadine was also the person in Shirley's life that taught her many of the life lessons and personal attributes that Shirley has instilled in her teams throughout her coaching career.

"She was very strong-willed. I think I learned a lot from her about being okay and comfortable with your convictions, being strong-minded, being strong-willed, and being okay with it even if it wasn't liked by everybody else.

"It was a very hard loss for me because I did feel that I lost my mom when she passed away… For me, [Ovarian Cancer Awareness] holds such a strong place for me because she was a role model for me."

Nadine wasn't just important in Shirley's life, but the lives of her family, children, and her team's throughout her career.

"She didn't miss many of my volleyball matches—any time she could travel. The last time she saw my team play was when we went to the national tournament for junior college and my team was going into the finals and she spoke to my team.

"My team always remembers Nadine from her spunk. She always made them great snacks and she would always joke to people "when you have kids you're going to name them Nadine." My teams that remember her knew how hard I took it when she passed away, but she was my biggest supporter to not be blood-related and she's been a huge part of my life."

In Nadine's memory, each of Shirley's seasons at USC Upstate has featured a match where the Spartans have donned teal to bring awareness to Ovarian Cancer—a cancer seen as the silent killer.

First serve between the Spartans and Thundering Herd is slated for 2 p.m. ET Saturday.

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