ASHEVILLE, N.C. – Seeing the inaugural season of the
Ali Skayhan era of USC Upstate volleyball come to a close Friday with the latest iteration of the Ingles I-26 Rivalry Series, the Spartans battled valiantly in the regular season finale, taking the first set, pushing the second to become the longest set of the season, and fighting in the final two sets before falling to the Bulldogs in four sets.
Despite the loss, Upstate finishes the season at 12-14 overall and 5-9 in the Big South, tying for fifth in the final league standings with the finish tying for the best conference finish in the program's Division I era. With the Spartans' 12 overall wins and five Big South wins in 2023, both totals mark the most overall and conference wins for a first-year head coach in the D1 era with Skayhan's totals marking the most for a first-year Spartan head coach since Jennifer Calloway (21-14; 6-4 Peach Belt) in 1996.
Game Information
Score: UNC Asheville 3; USC Upstate 1 (18-25; 35-33; 26-24; 25-22)
Records: USC Upstate (12-14; 5-9 Big South); UNC Asheville (8-20; 2-12 Big South)
Location: Justice Center | Asheville, N.C.
How It Happened
After jumping out and taking the first set by fending off a charging UNC Asheville, Upstate claimed a one-set advantage before the Spartans and Bulldogs engaged in a battle in the following three sets.
Set two proved to be one of the longest sets in the program's 25-point rally-scoring era (2008-pres.), seeing the two teams combine for 68 points in a 35-33 set victory for the Bulldogs with the set the highest-scoring for the Spartans since seeing a 36-34 set loss versus Radford on Nov. 9, 2018. Set three saw the game head to extra points, falling 26-24 in favor of UNC Asheville before the Bulldogs held off an Upstate rally attempt in the fourth, taking the set 25-22.
Saturday's season finale saw Upstate's trend of featuring a balanced offense continue for the fifth straight match, seeing five players tally seven or more kills in the match. As one trend continued, another was bucked in the team's favor as the Spartans saw three players with double-figure kills, breaking a streak of four consecutive matches with two attackers with 10 or more kills.
Leading the Spartans attackers, junior outside hitter
Ashleigh Nicoll earned her 17
th double-digit kill match of the year, throwing down 15 terminations. Each recording their third career double-figure kill matches, senior outside hitter
Zelasia Edwards and sophomore right-side hitter
MJ Klaumann registered 13 and 10 kills, respectively. Rounding out the quintet of Spartans with seven or more kills, sophomore middle blocker
Ady O'Grady tallied nine kills while senior middle blocker
Nikki Deslatte totaled eight kills.
Each of the Spartans' outside hitters dug up 14 balls apiece as both Nicoll and Edwards each recorded double-doubles in their final matches of the season. For Nicoll, the double-double stands as her 10
th of the season while for Edwards, the double-double marks the first of her career. Nearing a double-double, junior setter
Kayla Spangler passed out 45 assists and scooped up nine digs, finishing just shy of her eighth double-double.
Defensively, the Spartans totaled 13.0 team total blocks in the match, reaching double-digit team blocks for the eighth time this season and the fifth time during Big South play. The total marks the team's best single-match tally of the year and the most in a single match since collecting 16.0 team total blocks versus Gardner-Webb on Sep. 29, 2022. Leading the block, O'Grady recorded a season-high with seven total blocks, collecting two solo blocks and five block assists. Deslatte, her running mate in the middle, secured five total blocks on the night, one solo block and four block assists.
Behind the block, junior libero
Julia Gladhill picked up 15 balls while captaining the team's backline, joining Edwards and Nicoll in double-figures in the category. Adding to a group of five Spartans with eight or more digs, joining Edwards, Gladhill, Nicoll, and Spangler, senior defensive specialist
Caroline Cleveland totaled eight digs.
Adding to her first career double-double, Edwards paced the team's service game by landing three aces—half of the team's total—on the night. Her three aces give her three or more winners in three consecutive matches to close the season and three or more aces in four of her last five matches.
Connect with the Spartans
Facebook.com/UpstateAthletics
Twitter | @UpstateVB | @UpstateSpartans
Instagram | @UpstateVB | @UpstateSpartans
YouTube.com/UpstateSpartans
