CHARLESTON, S.C. – Charleston Southern dropped a five-set heartbreaker to Montana before coming back to sweep UNCG on the final day of the Chucktown Throwdown at the Buccaneer Fieldhouse.

The Bucs took the first two sets against Montana before the Grizzlies rallied for a 20-25, 22-25, 25-17, 25-22, 15-12 victory. CSU then won its second of three matches over the weekend with a 25-13, 28-26, 25-17 triumph over the Spartans.

Indigo Young had 28 kills and hit .565 in the two matches on Saturday while Skylar Yates and Peyton Thompson had 25 and 23 kills, respectively.

The Bucs concluded the non-conference portion of their schedule with a 7-7 record. CSU begins Big South play on Thursday at Gardner-Webb.

Montana Match
Indigo Young had 18 kills and hit .607, and Skylar Yates had a double-double with 13 kills and 10 digs to go along with three aces. Peyton Thompson finished with 15 kills, Angelika Rusin had 23 digs and three aces and Emilee Karelse handed out 45 assists.

The Bucs got a kill and two aces from Yates as part of a 4-0 run that gave them a 13-7 lead in the opening set. Back-to-back kills by Young gave CSU its largest lead of the set at 16-9, and two more putaways by Young and another by Yates finished off the set.

Montana erased a six-point deficit in set two and tied it at 19 when consecutive kills by Yates and Thompson put the Bucs back in control. Sets three and four were close the whole way but both went Montana's way.

In the decisive fifth set, CSU built a 9-6 lead on a kill by Young but the Grizzlies scored nine of the final 12 points to pull out the match. 

UNCG Match
Young again was dominant at the net with 10 kills and only one error for a .500 hitting percentage. Yates added 12 kills followed by Thompson with eight, Rusin had 11 digs and Karelse finished with 31 assists.

CSU coasted to the opening set win, hitting .565 as a team, but had to rally in set two after falling behind 19-14. The Bucs stormed back to create a 20-20 tie and saw the Spartans run off three straight points before taking control.

A kill by Young sparked a 4-0 run for a 24-23 CSU lead. The Bucs had two opportunities at set point that were saved by UNCG, but a kill by Yates and a Spartan attack error finally allowed CSU to finish off the set.

CSU never trailed in the final set although it was tied on three occasions, the last at 9-9. The Bucs ran off five of the next six points for a 14-10 lead that never dropped below three the rest of the way. Kills by Young and Yates and an attack error wrapped up the match.