HIGH POINT, N.C. – Competing in the Big South Volleyball Championship for the second straight season, qualifying for the event in consecutive seasons for the first time since joining the league ahead of the 2018 season, USC Upstate volleyball faced a familiar opponent as the Ingles I-26 Rivalry Series made its way to the postseason with a rematch of the team's opponent from the regular season finale, UNC Asheville. The Spartans battled throughout the match, offering a comeback attempt in a tightly-contested third frame before falling in straight sets.
 
Upstate finishes the season at 14-14—7-7 in Big South play –securing a record of .500 or better for the second time in the program's Division I era (2007-pres), doing so for the first time since 2015 (15-15).
 
Game Information
Score: UNC Asheville 3; USC Upstate 0 (25-19; 25-15; 25-22)
Records: USC Upstate (14-14; 7-7 Big South); UNC Asheville (11-17; 7-7 Big South)
Location: Millis Center | High Point, N.C.
 
How It Happened
Returning to the site of her career-high 22 kill performance versus High Point on Oct. 31, freshman outside hitter Summer Kohler once again proved the hot hand for the Spartans offensively inside the Millis Center. She finished the afternoon with a match-best 14 terminations, giving her 36 inside the Millis Center in her career, posting a .313 hitting efficiency against UNC Asheville.
 
The lone Spartan with 10-plus kills, the match marked Kohler's 24^th double-digit kill match of the season, matching the total of senior middle blocker Ady O'Grady for tops on the team in 2025. Kohler's kill count also improved her season total to 383, giving her the program's single-season record for kills by a freshman, surpassing Jolene Person's 376 kills in 1993 with her eighth kill of the afternoon. The 383 kills from Kohler this season also stand as the second-most in a single season by a Spartan in the team's D1 era.
 
Nearing double-digit kills, freshman right-side hitter Kensley Haneline and O'Grady added eight and seven kills, respectively. Pacing the offense, sophomore setter Kamyla Vega David dished out 31 helpers, giving her 1,120 assists this year to become the first Big South setter since 2018 to pass out 1,100-plus apples in a season.
 
Defensively, freshman libero Sophia Overholt paced the Upstate floor defense with 11 digs, the lone Spartan with double-figure digs. She finishes the campaign with a program freshman record 465 digs, the fourth-highest single-season mark in the D1 era. Elsewhere along the back line, Vega David and redshirt sophomore outside hitter Bri Brathol dug eight balls apiece.
 
Notable

• Concluding the season at 14-14, the 2025 campaign joins the 2015 season as the two seasons since joining the Division I ranks in 2007-08 to see the Spartans finish the year with a record of .500 or better.
• Adding 14 kills to her season total, Summer Kohler surpassed Jolene Person (376 in 1993) for the most kills in a single season by an Upstate freshman. Kohler joins Sophia Overholt (465 digs) in securing a single-season freshman record in 2025.

 
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