SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Inside the G.B. Hodge Center for the third time and beginning the team's first homestand this season, USC Upstate volleyball extended the team's home winning streak to two, downing Elon in four sets Friday evening. The match featured balanced scoring from the Spartans, seeing four players with nine or more kills and the team's highest team total block and service aces totals since Sep. 5 and Aug. 30, respectively.
 
Game Information
Score: USC Upstate 3; Elon 1 (25-14; 25-27; 25-17; 25-17)
Records: USC Upstate (6-4; 0-0 Big South); Elon (1-8; 0-0 CAA)
Location: G.B. Hodge Center | Spartanburg, S.C.
 
How It Happened
For the second time in as many nights, Upstate's offense featured a balanced distribution of kills among the final box score as four attackers finished with nine or more kills Saturday evening. Two Spartans, freshman middle blocker Kensley Haneline (13 kills) and junior right-side hitter Katia Nikolic (career-high 10 kills), registered double-figure kills, the third and first times in their respective careers. Junior outside hitter Alyssa Hook and senior middle blocker Ady O'Grady each contributed nine kills apiece while freshman outside hitter Summer Kohler chipped in eight.
 
Defensively, Upstate posted its best team total block mark since Sep. 5, versus North Alabama, collecting 9.0 or more team blocks for the fourth time this season, stuffing nine Elon attack attempts. Supplementing her team-high 13 terminations, Haneline tied a career high with eight total blocks, one of four players with multiple total blocks.
 
At the service line, the Spartans landed eight service aces, the most for the club since landing 11 against Northwestern State on Aug. 30. Three servers earned multiple winners with sophomore defensive specialist Hannah Campbell, redshirt junior defensive specialist Emma DeSensi, and freshman libero Sophia Overholt registering two aces apiece.
 
Overholt, in addition to her two service aces, paced the Spartan backline with 14 digs, her fifth straight match with 10 or more digs. Joining her with double-digit digs, sophomore setter Kamyla Vega David picked up 10 balls, adding to her 38 assists for her sixth double-double of the year.
 
Notable

• Recording nine kills against the Phoenix, Ady O'Grady pushed her career kill total to 795, moving her to fifth on the program's Division I era (2007-pres.) career leaderboard. Saturday, she passed former Spartan Kayla McAvoy for the spot.

 
Up Next for the Spartans
Upon wrapping up the weekend, USC Upstate continues its longest homestand to this point in the season next Thursday. The Spartans welcome Northern Arizona to the G.B. Hodge Center for a special Education Day first serve of 11 a.m. ET.
 
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