The Charleston Southern volleyball team dropped a home-conference match to the USC-Upstate Spartans on Friday night, losing in four sets. After taking the first set by a 25-19 score, the VolleyBucs went on to lose the final three sets 25-22, 25-16 and 25-23. 

Set One
Charleston Southern came out firing.. In a back-and-forth battle, the Bucs were able to use a couple of late runs to take the set. Skylar Yates provided back-to-back kills followed by two service errors by the Spartans gave the Bucs a six-point lead, which was too much for the Spartans to overcome. 

Set Two
Set two was also a back-and-forth battle to start out. After USC-Upstate jumped out to a 3-1 lead, Charleston Southern fought back, taking an 8-7 with a kill from Giada Pais-Marden. Then, tied at 10, the Bucs went on a 5-0 run with a service ace by Yates and two kills by Peyton Thompson.

USC Upstate continue to claw their way back into it, as they went on a 7-1 run and took a 17-16 lead before the Bucs took a 20-18 lead thanks to a kill by Indigo Young and Pias-Marden. Tied at 22, the Spartans scored the final three points of the set to even things up. 

Set Three
After evening the match at one, the Spartans caught fire, dominating set three from start to finish. They used a 10-3 run to open the set. In that run, the Bucs had four attack errors as well as two service errors. Despite a late push from the Buccaneers, the lead was too much to overcome. 

Set Four
CSU continued to fight, as they jumped out to a 15-6 lead to start off set four that included a 7-0 run in large part due to Thompson. Jyriah Morgan also had three kills during that run as well. The Spartans; however, came back with a run of their own, as they scored the next six points to pull within three. After a kill by Thompson, USC-Upstate pulled to within one thanks to two attack errors and a kill. Then, the Spartans had an attack error of their own to give the Bucs a 23-21 lead, but they could not hold onto the lead, as the Spartans scored the final four points. 

As a team, CSU had 48 kills, with Thompson leading the way with 13 of her own and Yates was right behind her with 11. Angelika Rusin, who continues to lead the Big South in digs, added to her season total with a game-high 32 on the night.

With the loss, the VolleyBucs saw their record drop to below .500 at 9-10 (2-3). They look to bounce back on Saturday, as the UNC-Asheville Bulldogs come to the Buc Dome. The game will start at 2 p.m. and will be aired on ESPN+.