Cockrell, Evans and Wilcox Post Double-Digit Kills in a 3-2 Loss at USC Upstate Tuesday Night
September 28, 2011 | Volleyball
Spartanburg, S.C. - The Gardner-Webb volleyball team again struggled to put the match away on Tuesday night, as the USC Upstate Spartans came back from being down 2-1 to win the fourth and fifth sets and ultimately defeat the Runnin' Bulldogs, 3-2, in the Hodge Center in Spartanburg, S.C.
Gardner-Webb, who took a 2-1 match lead with a third set win, fell to the Spartans 25-23, 24-26, 25-21, 23-25 and 13-15 on Tuesday night.
The loss drops Gardner-Webb to 4-11 on the year and 0-6 in matches that have gone all five sets. With the win, USC Upstate improves to 4-9 overall on the season.
In the first set, the two teams went back-and-forth in the early goings until Gardner-Webb put together three straight points, highlighted by back-to-back kills from Lauren Evans and Erin Anderson, to take its largest lead of the set at 10-6.
After pushing its lead out to five at 12-7 on a Tyler Cockrell kill, the Spartans of USC Upstate put together a 9-4 run to tie the score up at 16-16 on a Morgan Thomas service ace.
The score would remain close down the stretch, as neither team could pull away by more than a point from the other, leaving the score at 23-23.
With the set on the line, senior middle blocker Laura Wilcox blasted back-to-back kills to give the Runnin' Bulldogs the 25-23 set win and the 1-0 match lead.
Gardner-Webb carried over the momentum from the first set win into the start of the second set, running out to a seven point lead at 9-2, highlighted by a 5-0 run to start the set.
USC Upstate slowly kept fighting its way back into the set, as GWU held onto the lead for most of the frame. However, with the score at 14-10 in favor of GWU by way of an Evans' kill, the Spartans begin to peck at the Runnin' Bulldogs' lead and took advantage of back-to-back GWU attack errors to tie the score up at 18-18.
After a GWU timeout and a third straight attack error, the Spartans took their first lead of the set at 19-18.
The Runnin' Bulldogs refused to go away, and battled the Spartans point-for-point until a kill by Cockrell gave Gardner-Webb set point at 24-23.
Yet the final point would elude the Runnin' Bulldogs, as Upstate finished the set out on a 3-0 run take the second set 26-24 set win and tie the match score up at 1-1.
GWU and Upstate traded points and the lead back-and-forth once more to start off the third set, until five straight points by the Runnin' Bulldogs pushed the visitors in front by four at 10-6 and forced the Spartans to call its first timeout.
After five ties and two lead changes over the next 15 rallies, the Runnin' Bulldogs picked up a huge kill from Wilcox to break the 20-20 tie and give Gardner-Webb the lead at 21-20.
Refusing to relinquish the lead down the stretch, GWU outscored the Spartans 4-1 over the final five possessions to take the 25-21 set win and retake the match lead at 2-1.
The Runnin' Bulldogs took an early 2-1 lead on an Evans' kill and held off the Spartans to push their lead out to four at 10-6 to start the fourth set.
A 9-1 run over the next 10 plays by the Spartans put Upstate in front by four at 15-11 and swayed the momentum over in favor of the home team.
With their backs against the wall, Gardner-Webb was able to cut the lead to two on four different occasions, until four straight points, highlighted by two Evans' kills tied the score up at 22-22.
After back-to-back GWU attack errors gave the Spartans a two point lead and set point at 24-22, Evans again picked up a kill for the Runnin' Bulldogs to keep GWU alive and cut the Spartans lead back to one at 24-23.
However, on the Spartans' third set point, Upstate picked up a kill from Thomas to hold on for the 25-23 set win and force a fifth and decisive set.
In the fifth set, Upstate took advantage of two GWU attack errors to take a 5-0 lead to start the frame.
GWU picked up back-to-back kills from Emily Holte and Wilcox to halt the Spartans run and cut the Upstate lead to three at 5-2.
After cutting the Upstate lead to two twice, a 4-0 run by GWU, capped off by back-to-back kills from Holte and Molly Rhyne pushed the Runnin' Bulldogs in front for the first time of the set at 12-11.
Back-to-back GWU errors allowed the Spartans to retake the lead at 13-12 and then extend that lead to two on another Thomas kill to put the score at 14-12 in favor of USC Upstate.
GWU's Holte picked up a kill on the next rally, yet it was too little too late, as another kill from the Spartans' Thomas put the set away at 15-13 and gave the Spartans the 3-2 match win.
Cockrell posted a career-high 18 kills, while Evans and Wilcox each had 15 kills apiece. Evans posted a double-double with 13 digs, while freshman setter Heather Feldman recorded her ninth double-double of the year with a career-high 63 assists and 11 digs.
Senior libero Evan Moffitt had a team-high 28 digs, while junior outside hitter Melissa Richie tallied 14 digs in the five-set loss.
For USC Upstate, Thomas led the way with 18 kills, while setter Emily Sanders totaled 52 set assists and two service aces in the win.
"Tonight was a tough match against USC Upstate. I give Upstate a lot of credit," commented head coach Leo Sayles. "They were tenacious down the stretch and held us off. Our team is competing, but we still must find the missing link necessary to put matches away. We had several players play outstanding, but some key players struggled as well."
The Runnin' Bulldogs (4-11, 0-1 Big South) will return to conference play this weekend, as GWU will hit the road to take on the Radford Highlanders on Friday night at 7 p.m. and then turn around to face off with the Liberty Lady Flames at 2 p.m. on Saturday afternoon.
USC Upstate (3-9, 0-1 A-Sun) will return to Atlantic Sun play on Friday night as well, as the Spartans will take on Lipscomb at 7:30 p.m. in Nashville, Tenn.
###
| Box Score: USC Upstate 3, Gardner-Webb 2 |
