CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Returning to the Old North State for the second time during the 2024 season—alternating tournaments in the Carolinas during non-conference play—USC Upstate volleyball displayed its trademark pluck as it quarreled with William & Mary Friday evening to open the Queens Fall Classic.
 
Pushing the Tribe throughout the four-set outing by applying pressure from the service line, the Spartans landed 10 service aces, the team's second-highest output in the category this season, as four of the team's servers landed multiple winners. Pressing William & Mary in serve/receive, Upstate took the opening set to extra points before capturing the second set and nearly earning comebacks late in sets three and four.
 
Game Information
Score: William & Mary 3; USC Upstate 1 (28-26; 16-25; 25-23; 25-17)
Records: USC Upstate (0-8; 0-0 Big South); William & Mary (4-3; 0-0 CAA)
Location: Levine Center | Charlotte, N.C.
 
How It Happened
Trailing by as many as four points in the opening stanza of the night, Upstate didn't let the early deficits deter it, wrapping the first set by pushing William & Mary to extra points in the team's longest set of the season thus far. Senior libero Julia Gladhill proved a driving force for the Spartans' nuisance in its comeback attempt late in the set, finishing the opening game with nine of her team-best 18 digs. Upstate's floor defense ended the first set with 26 digs as a unit, its highest single-set output of the night.
 
Carrying the momentum of their late challenge in the first set, the Spartans used its service pressure to jump on the Tribe and tie the match with a second-set victory, beginning the second stanza with a 5-0 advantage before building their lead to as large as nine. Upstate landed four of the team's 10 service aces in the set with junior middle blocker Ady O'Grady collecting three consecutive aces in the serving run that created its nine-point margin and forced a Tribe timeout. She finished the night with a career-high four service aces.
 
Upon entering the break knotted at one set apiece, Upstate and William & Mary continued their back-and-forth bout in the third and fourth sets. In contrast to set two, the Tribe jumped out to the early advantage, but the Spartans remained resilient, battling back to force another tight set, ending just short of extra marks. Upstate nearly fashioned the same outcome in the final period as its comeback attempt fell just short of sending the match to a deciding fifth set.
 
Complementing her career-high four service aces, O'Grady registered Complementing her career-high four service aces, O'Grady registered a team-best 12 kills, leading a trio of Spartans with double-digit kills with junior middle blocker Alona Clinansmith and graduate student outside hitter Allison Palmi recording 11 and 10 kills, respectively. Clinansmith's career-high kill output came behind a .440 hitting percentage, committing zero errors on 25 swings.
 
Pacing the Upstate offense, freshman setter Kamyla Vega David passed out a match-high 38 assists, surpassing the 30-assist plateau for the third time in her young career. She supplemented her assist total with 12 digs—joining Gladhill as Spartans with double-figure digs—netting her fifth career double-double.
 
Notable

• Picking up a pair of block assists versus William & Mary, Ady O'Grady totals 202 total blocks for her career. She enters Saturday one total block shy of tying former Spartan Madison Haake for eighth on the program's Division I era (2007-pres.) career total blocks leaderboard.

 
Up Next for the Spartans
Continuing play at the Queens Fall Classic, Upstate returns for a pair of matches Saturday to close out the event. The Spartans face a pair of teams from the Charlotte area to wrap the event, facing Queens at 1 p.m. ET before finishing with Davidson at 4:30 p.m.
 
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