SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Returning home to the friendly confines of the G.B. Hodge Center for the first time, USC Upstate volleyball closed out the pre-Big South Conference play portion of the team's non-conference schedule Saturday afternoon, falling to Marshall by scores of 13-25, 22-25, 14-25.
 
Despite dropping the first set, Upstate came out strong in the second set with the Spartans and Thundering Herd trading the lead back-and-forth for the majority of the set with Upstate applying pressure to its opponent throughout, even forcing a Marshall timeout late in the set. In the second frame, Upstate recorded 16 kills behind a .229 hitting percentage, the team's highest single-set totals in the match.
 
Offensively, a trio of Spartans finished with eight-plus kills led by freshman right-side hitter Savannah Page's career-high 10 terminations. Page posted the total behind a team-best .350 hitting efficiency, hitting .571 during the second set. Behind her with eight kills apiece were junior right-side hitter Ali Jansen and sophomore outside hitter Ashleigh Nicoll with Jansen's tally marking a season-high.
 
Adding to the team's 35 total kills, junior middle blocker Nikki Deslatte contributed six kills while hitting .300 with freshman middle blocker Ady O'Grady and sophomore setter Kayla Spangler adding two and one kill, respectively.
 
Orchestrating the Spartan attack, junior setter Emma McElveen led the way with a team-high 19 assists with Spangler chipping in 10 helpers. In service, Jansen and McElveen landed the Spartans' lone winners.
 
Defensively, sophomore libero Julia Gladhill led Upstate with 10 digs with Spangler and Nicoll scooping up five balls each to follow on the box score. At the net, the Spartans tallied 2.0 total team blocks with Deslatte, Nicoll, O'Grady, and Page totaling a block apiece.
 
UP Next for the Spartans
With the bulk of the non-conference schedule complete, Upstate now turns its gaze to Big South competition with the start of the league slate set for Thursday evening. It will be a short trip for the Spartans to open conference play, heading to Presbyterian for a 6 p.m. ET first serve.
 
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