SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Finishing its first home weekend during Big South Conference play and closing out a stretch of five of eight games played at the G.B. Hodge Center, USC Upstate volleyball headed to five sets for the second straight night, fighting until the final point against Radford Saturday evening.
 
The Spartans and Highlanders traded set victories through the first four periods of the night, seeing Upstate take the first and third stanzas and Radford the second and fourth. In the fifth set, the match pushed deep into the point threshold, finishing with the Highlanders taking the set by a score of 15-13.
 
Game Information
Score: Radford 3; USC Upstate 2 (14-25; 25-22; 19-25; 25-19; 15-13)
Records: USC Upstate (6-11; 1-3 Big South); Radford (6-9; 3-1 Big South)
Location: G.B. Hodge Center | Spartanburg, S.C.
 
How It Happened
Battling its way through another Big South match and facing a fifth set for the seventh time in 2024, USC Upstate's floor defense displayed its grit, picking up 90-plus digs in a fifth match as it finished the night with 91 balls scooped up. Coming off a 29 digs night Friday, the newest member of the program's 1,000-Dig Club, senior libero Julia Gladhill put forth a career-best effort with 33 digs.
 
Behind Gladhill on the stat sheet, freshman libero Kamyla Vega David plucked up 18 balls, pairing the total with a career-high 49 assists for her 11^th double-double of the year. Her latest double-double gives her one in three straight matches.
 
Offensively, Upstate featured four players with double-digit digs for the first time since Sep. 2, 2022, when the Spartans accomplished the feat against Eastern Kentucky. Junior middle blocker Ady O'Grady led the quartet with 14 kills behind a .355 hitting efficiency with junior right-side hitter Savannah Page in lockstep with 13 kills. Rounding out the group, graduate student outside hitter Allison Palmi and senior outside hitter Ashleigh Nicoll threw down 12 and 10 terminations, respectively.
 
At the net, Upstate collected 8.0 team total blocks, reaching eight-plus total blocks for the fourth match in 2024. Junior middle blocker Alona Clinansmith led the Spartans with five total blocks (two solo blocks and three block assists) with O'Grady and Page just behind with three blocks apiece.
 
Notable

• Totaling 33 digs against the Highlanders, Julia Gladhill's single-match total ties for the fifth-best single-match total in the program's Division I era (2007-pres.). The total marks the most in a match for a Spartan since teammate Caroline Cleveland scooped up 34 balls versus Charleston Southern on Sep. 29, 2023.
• Behind her 33 digs, the newest member of the program's 1,000-Dig Club moved up to eighth on the D1-era career digs leaderboard, moving past former teammate and the previous latest member of the club Mackenzie Marcum.

 
Up Next for the Spartans
Following its two-game stretch that finishes a streak of six of the team's past eight matches at the G.B. Hodge Center, Upstate hits the road for its lone split weekend of the regular season. The Spartans compete Friday and Sunday next week, travelling to Charleston Southern (6 p.m. ET) and Presbyterian (2 p.m.).
 
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