Sept. 6, 2008

Final Stats

SPARTANBURG, S.C. - Sophomore Sandra Campbell (Orlando, Fla./Pilot Point (Texas)) had another big day for the USC Upstate volleyball team, as she posted 25 kills in seven games to secure a spot on the USC Upstate Volleyball Classic All-Tournament team, her second all-tournament nod of the season, but it wasn't enough to push the Spartans past Radford, who won 3-1, or UNC Asheville, who won 3-0, in the team's last two matches of the classic at the Hodge Center on Saturday. Wofford claimed the tournament title, thanks to a 4-0 record while UNC Asheville and Radford each finished tied for second with a 2-1 record at the event. Upstate finished fourth at 1-3 and Hampton finished 0-4.

Upstate (2-5 overall) hit a season-high .542 in the third set against Radford (5-2 overall), but it wasn't enough to rally from a two-set deficit as Radford went on for the 3-1 (25-22, 25-16, 19-25, 25-16) win in Upstate's first match on Saturday afternoon. Sophomore Sandra Campbell (Orlando, Fla./Pilot Point (Texas)) led the Spartans with 15 kills, hitting a stellar .480 and adding two blocks.

Senior Jovana Lubura (Belgrade, Serbia/New Mexico Military Institute) added 12 kills and hit .462 and junior Morgan Bucciferro (Shorewood, Ill./Minooka Community) posted a team-high 28 assists. Sophomore Megan Healey (St. Louis, Mo./Ursuline Academy) had 10 digs and freshman Morgan Thomas (Plantation, Fla./St. Thomas Aquinas) added an impressive performance with five blocks and eight kills.

The first set was kept close, even though Radford twice opened up four point leads. With the score 16-12, Upstate closed within two with two points and then at 19-15, Upstate again rallied all the way back to tie the match at 21 after a setting error by the Highlanders. However, a kill from Heidi Haubrich gave the Highlanders a lead they held onto, scoring four of the last five points of the set for the 25-22 win.

The Highlanders opened up a 9-2 lead in the second set, thanks to five points off the serve of Kiley Kent, building a lead that grew as large as 10 points to take the 25-16 win.

The Spartans answered back with a show of force in the third set, as they notched 15 kills against just two errors. With the score tied at 11, Upstate posted four straight points in a rally started by a kill from senior Tijana Knezevic (Indija, Serbia/New Mexico Military Institute). From there, the Spartan lead grew to seven points after a kill from Campbell made it 20-13, as the Spartans cruised to the 25-19 win.

In the fourth set, the teams battled to a tie at 15 with neither team mustering a lead of three or more points before the Highlanders scored seven straight points thanks two kills each from Megan McWhorter and Haubrich to take a 22-15 en route to a 25-16 win.

Radford got 17 kills from Laura Waddell, 11 from Melinda Clelland and 10 from Haubrich. Leigh Myers added 50 assists for the Highlanders and Kiley Kent posted three aces. Lauren Clary posted a game-high 11 digs.

The Spartans finished the tournament with a 3-0 (25-18, 25-19, 25-21) loss to UNC Asheville, despite double-digit kill performances from both Lubura, who had 11, and Campbell, who had 10.

Lubura tied for match-highs with 11 kills and eight digs and also added a team-high three blocks. Campbell added 10 kills and a team-high .474 kill percentage. Both Bucciferro and senior Holly Mauldin (Irmo, S.C./Dutch Fork) added 16 assists.

The teams battled to a 15-15 tie in the first set before a kill from Kaitlyn McDaniel helped the Bulldogs (3-3 overall) take a 19-17 lead. A kill from Lubura shaved the lead to one point, but two kills each from Kelsey Benorden and Heather Burns lit the Bulldogs on a 6-0 run that closed the set.

The Spartans fought the Bulldogs to a 10-10 in the second set before the Bulldogs went on a 5-1 run. Upstate fought back to tie the match at 17, though, thanks to a 6-2 run of its own, capped by consecutive kills from Campbell, Thomas, Lubura and Knezevic. The Bulldogs scored the next two points and closed the set on a 6-1 run to take it, 25-19.

Upstate once again fought Asheville to a 10-10 in the third set, but Asheville posted a 10-4 run to help close the match with a 25-21 win.

All-Tournament team member Lauren Ficker posted 11 kills, a match-high three aces and three blocks and her fellow All-Tournament team member Benorden added 11 kills and seven digs. Heather Burns also posted 11 kills and a match-high four kills. McDaniel posted 19 assists and eight digs and Raquel Miotto also added eight digs.

Upstate gets back on the court on Tuesday when it travels to East Tennessee State for a 7 p.m. game at the Memorial Center to open up its 2008 Atlantic Sun Conference slate.