Box Score
CONWAY, S.C. – In the opening match of the Coastal Carolina Invitational, USC Upstate came away with a 3-0 win over the Norfolk State volleyball team Friday afternoon at Kimbel Arena.
USC Upstate improved to 3-4 on the year after defeating NSU, 25-21, 25-19, 25-23. The loss, the team's fourth in a row, dropped the Spartans to 3-6 on the year.
NSU was led by freshman Arielle Knafel, who posted 10 kills, four digs and three blocks, and redshirt sophomore Paige Gary-Canty, who totaled eight kills and five digs. Freshman Noelle Eagles had a team-high nine digs, while sophomore Kristen Burt added 26 assists.
The Spartans of USC Upstate were led by Katie Downey, who posted 11 kills, and Mindy Quimby, who added eight digs. Emily Sanders had 33 assists to lead the Spartan attack.
Norfolk State hit .126 for the match, while USC Upstate attacked at a .242 clip. For the first time this season NSU outblocked an opponent, as the Spartans held a 9-5 advantage over USC Upstate. Junior Jasmine Frazier led the way with five blocks for NSU.
USC Upstate began the match with a 5-1 lead and extended it to 7-2 before NSU had to quickly call a timeout. The deficit got to six before the Spartans scored four straight points, the last on a kill by Knafel, to make it 12-10. A short time later, a block by Frazier and Knafel and a service ace from sophomore Charlotte Armstead cut the USC Upstate lead to one at 14-13.
After USC Upstate scored five straight points to extend their lead back to six, NSU again made a run to close the gap, this time using a solo block by sophomore Ellica Morris to finish a 4-0 run and put the scoreboard at 20-18. The Spartans got no closer than that, though, as Quimby tallied three kills at the end of the set to give USC Upstate the 25-21 win.
Neither team got ahead in the second set until USC Upstate took 7-of-8 points during one stretch to go up, 11-6, after NSU had briefly taken a one-point lead. Frazier posted back-to-back solo blocks that cut the lead to three at 16-13, forcing USC Upstate to call for time.
The teams traded points for the next several serves, and after Armstead and Morris blocked a Quimby attack to make the score 21-18, USC Upstate won four of the last five points to put NSU away, 25-19.
The Spartans then reversed fortunes early on in the third set, taking a quick 2-0 lead and keeping USC Upstate at bay for a short time. Two straight services aces by Armstead gave the Spartans an 8-6 lead, but USC Upstate chipped away at the lead, eventually taking it back at 13-12 on a kill by Cori Harris.
An attack error on the other Spartans tied the score at 15-15, but four straight points by USC Upstate put Norfolk State in a hole at 19-15. Several serves later, the fifth kill of the set for Knafel and an attack error on the opposition got NSU to one at 22-21. After a service error on USC Upstate and a kill by Burt kept NSU alive down 24-23, Downey knocked down the last kill of the afternoon for the 25-23 win.
The Spartans will look to bounce back with a pair of matches Saturday. NSU plays host Coastal Carolina at noon, followed by a match against The Citadel at 4 p.m.
