SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Back inside the friendly confines of the G.B. Hodge Center for the first time during Big South Conference play, USC Upstate volleyball remained resilient as it battled Presbyterian Friday night. The Spartans grit out victory in the five-set affair, fending off the Blue Hose to even the all-time series in the Division I era (2007-pres.) of the respective programs.
 
Game Information
Score: USC Upstate 3; Presbyterian 2 (16-25; 25-20; 25-20; 25-27; 15-10)
Records: USC Upstate (8-7; 1-1 Big South); Presbyterian (4-10; 0-2 Big South)
Location: G.B. Hodge Center | Spartanburg, S.C.
 
How It Happened
Leading to the team's first five-set victory of the 2025 campaign, Upstate continued to display its balanced scoring prowess, notching 60-plus team kills for the third straight match and 10.0-plus team total blocks for the second consecutive match. The Spartans also landed seven service aces and scooped up 80 digs, the first time registering 60-plus kills, 80-plus digs, 10.0-plus total blocks, and seven-plus aces in the same match since Sep. 4, 2024.
 
Four Spartans finished the evening with double-digit kills, headlined by 17 terminations from senior middle blocker Ady O'Grady, the fifth straight match she's led the team in the category. Freshman outside hitter Summer Kohler ended just behind O'Grady in the box score with 16 kills while freshman middle blocker Kensley Haneline and freshman outside hitter Morgan Powell added 13 and 10 kills, respectively. Powell's total represented a career high as she's the sixth different Spartan to record a double-digit kill match this year.
 
Hitting the mark for the third straight match, sophomore setter Kamyla Vega David passed out 50-plus assists, tying her career high with 55 helpers versus Presbyterian. She becomes the first Upstate setter to register 50 or more assists in three consecutive matches since Emily Sanders from Aug. 27-28, 2010. Vega David also recorded her 10^th double-double of the season, supplementing her setting total with 13 digs.
 
Turning back the Blue Hose attack, Upstate recorded 10.0 team total blocks, hitting double-digits in the category in successive games for the first time since Sep. 16 and Sep. 23, 2023. Posting six total blocks, O'Grady led the team at the net, one of four Spartans with four or more total blocks on the night, joining Haneline, Powell, and Vega David.
 
Working behind the Spartan block, the club's backline saw four players collect double-digit balls with redshirt junior libero Emma DeSensi totaling a team-best 23 digs in her first match donning the libero jersey. The match marked DeSensi's first career double-figure dig match, becoming the third different Spartan to pick up 20-plus balls in a match this season. She was joined in double-figures by sophomore defensive specialist Hannah Campbell, Kohler (part of a double-double), and Vega David, who collected 13, 14, and 13 digs, respectively.
 
On the service line, freshman setter Olivia Callipo landed a career-best three service aces, leading the Spartans.
 
Notable

• Tying a career-high with 55 assists, Kamyla Vega David recorded her Big South-leading fifth 50-plus assist match of the season—the league sees six such matches from setters this season—hitting the total in three straight matches.
• She's the first Upstate setter with multiple 50-plus assist matches in the same season since Annalisa Mendoza in 2019, the first with 50-plus assists in consecutive matches since Madison Haake in 2016, and the first with 50-plus assists in three straight matches since Emily Sanders in 2010.

 
Up Next for the Spartans
Closing out the team's first two-match weekend during Big South play, Upstate hosts Charleston Southern Saturday at 4 p.m. ET.
 
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