CHARLESTON, S.C. – Day two of the Zaxby's presents the VolleyBucs VolleyPalooza got underway Saturday morning with host Charleston Southern falling 3-0 to California Baptist in the first match. The Lancers pulled out a close set one win before gradually growing their margin in the next two, taking the sweep 25-22, 25-20, 25-14.

CLOSE IN SET ONE
The Buccaneers put up their strongest fight in the opening set, as the two teams battled back-and-forth with neither side owning more than a three-point advantage. It featured three ties through 4-4 before Giada Pais-Marden finished off back-to-back a sequence of three-straight kills, rallying CSU from down 4-2 into the lead 5-4. California Baptist (1-2) responded with three consecutive points of its own, reclaiming the upper hand which they held until Skylar Yates leveled the score once again at 8-8 on a kill.

The visitors built another advantage, growing the margin to three, 12-9, and forcing the Bucs to call timeout. The short break energized the home side, as it answered with five-in-a-row, the last two on kills by Peyton Thompson and Emily Struckmeyer, to stake a 14-12 lead. The see-saw battle continued with four more ties, the last coming at 22-22 following a California Baptist attack error. However, it would be the last point of the set for Charleston Southern (1-1) and CBU closed out the set with the last-three points.

MIDSET SET TWO FLIP
The next set started very similarly with both sides claiming early leads and seven ties to get it to 10-10 after a Lancers attack error. However, Christine Graf laid down a kill for the next CBU point and it never looked back. The margin swelled to as high as five by 18-13 with the Bucs trimming it back to one, 18-17, on another Yates kill, but they were unable to overtake the deficit completely.

TRYING TO SLOW THE MOMENTUM
California Baptist sustained that strong close to the second set into the final set, racing out to a 9-1 lead before surrendering a point on a service error. The gap grew to nine before Thompson ended that stretch with a kill, igniting three-straight points keyed by back-to-back attack errors for the Lancers, closing the deficit to 12-6. It was 13-8 following a Yates kill but CBU doubled up the score, 16-8, in the next run. The points for the visitors continued to pile on, stretching the score to 22-10 but Pais-Marden halted any further push with her final kill of the match but the California Baptist closed it out quickly thereafter.

STANDOUTS
Indigo Young led the CSU offense with a .455 hitting percentage, converting five kills on 11 total attacks without an error. Thompson and Yates shared the team lead with 10 kills with Thompson connecting on a Bucs-high 32 total attacks, ahead of Yates' 25. Ilaria Durante paced the squad with 23 assists in her starting debut as the team's primary setter.

Durante added a team-high 10 digs, ahead of Angelika Rusin's eight. Yates and Pais-Marden each had six.

UP NEXT
Charleston Southern will close out the Zaxby's presents the VolleyBucs VolleyPalooza with a 5 p.m. match against St. John's on ESPN+.