Tuesday, October 13, 2009

SPARTANBURG, S.C. (Oct. 13, 2009) - The ETSU volleyball team dropped its third straight match Tuesday night as the Bucs fell to USC Upstate at the Hodge Center in Spartanburg, S.C., 3-1 (13-25, 16-25, 25-17, 18-25).

Alysa Long (Romulus, Mich.) had a career night as she tallied 11 kills hitting .566 in the match, while posting six blocks. Amanda Youell (Middleburg, Fla.) had 33 assists and seven digs on the night. Junior Desiree Dyck (Meadow Lake, Saskatchewan) totaled eight kills and 11 digs for the Bucs.

Play was back and forth to start the first set until the Spartans took four-straight points to take a 10-6 lead. USC Upstate went on to close out the set on a 13-2 run, 25-13. Morgan Thomas led the Spartans with five kills in the set.

In the second set, USC Upstate jumped out to a 7-4 lead. The Spartans used a 10-4 run to take a 17-8 advantage. The Bucs cut the Spartan lead to six points at 18-12, but USC Upstate went on to win the set 25-16 taking a 2-0 lead into the break.

ETSU answered in the third set as the Bucs jumped out to an early lead and never went down in the set. With the score tied 11-all the Buccaneers went on a 7-3 run to go in front 18-14. The Bucs got kills from Jamie Stancliff (Advance, N.C.) and Long to take the set 25-17.

The Spartans regained momentum in the fourth set as they got out to an early 7-2 lead. ETSU rallied to narrow the USC Upstate lead to 10-8, but the Spartans went on an 8-2 run to extend their lead to 18-10. USC Upstate went on to win the set 25-18.

The Bucs (6-13, 5-6 A-Sun) are back in action on Friday at 7 p.m. as they head to Campbell. For more information on Buccaneer volleyball and all other Buccaneer athletic news, please visit www.ETSUBucs.com.