CHARLESTON, S.C. – Facing the final match on what is the team's final two-match road stretch of the regular season, USC Upstate volleyball picked up a crucial victory in the team's quest for the Big South Volleyball Championship, battling back from a first-set defeat and controlling the remainder of the match to claim a four-set victory over Charleston Southern Saturday.
The Spartans, falling behind in the first set, nearly pulled off the comeback in the set, closing the set to within a point before dropping 25-23. Building upon the momentum of the comeback attempt, Upstate put together its best set of the year, dispatching the Buccaneers 25-9 with Charleston Southern's nine points in the set are the fewest surrendered by the Spartans in a set this season—by three points. The Spartans broke the tie by commanding the third set to take the lead and used the season's longest scoring run—nine points—to capture the fourth set and match.
Game Information
Score: USC Upstate 3; Charleston Southern 1 (20-25; 25-9; 25-17; 25-19)
Records: USC Upstate (12-11; 5-6 Big South); Charleston Southern (9-16; 3-8 Big South)
Location: Buccaneer Fieldhouse | Charleston, S.C.
How It Happened
Battling back and earning a split on the weekend, USC Upstate continued its weekend theme as five Spartans finished Saturday's match with eight-plus kills as the team's balanced offense accomplished the feat for the second straight match.
Again, two Spartans finished the night with double-figure kill totals with junior outside hitter
Ashleigh Nicoll reaching the benchmark for the second straight match, throwing down a match-best 13 kills. Joining her with 10 kills on the afternoon was sophomore right-side hitter
MJ Klaumann whose total gives her the first double-digit termination match of her career, doing so behind a .207 hitting efficiency.
Upstate's two middle blockers, senior
Nikki Deslatte and sophomore
Ady O'Grady each recorded nine kills in the match. Deslatte reached her nine kills behind a team-best .312 hitting percentage while O'Grady reached nine or more kills for the fifth consecutive match. Rounding out the quintet of players with eight or more kills, senior outside hitter
Zelasia Edwards totaled eight, fashioning a hitting percentage of .211.
Pacing the team's offense, junior setter
Kayla Spangler passed out 38 helpers on the afternoon, giving her 15 matches with 30 or more assists this season. With 75 total assists this weekend, she pushes her career total to 990 as she enters next weekend seeking to become the sixth setter in the program's Division I era (2007-pres.) with 1,000 or more career assists.
Defensively, for the first time in seven matches, Upstate saw four or more players scoop up double-digit digs led by Edwards who dug up a season-high 17 balls in the match, one dig shy of her career high. Junior libero
Julia Gladhill added 15 digs while senior defensive specialist
Caroline Cleveland and Nicoll tallied 11 digs apiece. With her 13 kills and 11 digs, Nicoll recorded her eighth double-double of the season.
At the net, the Spartans tallied 5.0 total team blocks as three Spartans combined for the total. O'Grady led the trio with four total blocks while Spangler added three and Edwards two, including the team's lone solo block.
UP Next for the Spartans
Heading back to the G.B. Hodge Center, Upstate sets its sights on the team's final homestand of the season, welcoming in Gardner-Webb and Winthrop next weekend. Friday night's match versus Gardner-Webb (6 p.m. ET) is the team's "Green Game" while Saturday's match against Winthrop (4 p.m.) is Senior Day.
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