MACON, Ga. – Charleston Southern volleyball closed a two-match Saturday with a sweep over host Mercer Saturday evening, earning two wins in three overall matches Friday and Saturday at the Mercer Bears Classic in Macon, Georgia. The Buccaneers topped the Bears 25-23, 25-23, 25-21 after a hard-fought, five-set decision in the earlier neutral-site contest with Southern Miss in which the Golden Eagles prevailed, 3-2, behind scores of 23-25, 25-20, 27-29, 25-17, 15-11.

SWEEP OVER THE HOSTS
Charleston Southern closed the event turning to freshman Emily Struckmeyer as the team' top hitter. She converted seven of her total attacks into five kills, a .571 hitting percentage. Fellow first-year standout Skylar Yates finished with eight kills among her 22 total attacks, while Jyriah Morgan had five kills on 15 total attacks.

Preseason All-Big South honoree Peyton Thompson contributed team highs of 11 kills and 32 total attacks in the second sweep of the campaign.

Emilee Karelse and Ilaria Durante finished with 16 and 10 assists, respectively, while Angelika Rusin just missed out on a double-double with her nine assists to go along with a team-best 16 digs.

In set one, the Bucs trailed early and were down 15-10 when Thompson started a rally, pulling her team even at 17-17 and forcing Mercer into a timeout. CSU seized control of the set after a Yates kill broke open a 19-19 draw. It was still 23-23 when Thompson spotted her final kill of the set before consecutive attack errors for the Bears gave Charleston Southern the winning margin.

Set two was staged very similar with Mercer holding a three-point lead when the points reached the teens, the last at 18-15. Giada Pais-Marden then ignited the Buccaneers' spark. She opened a stretch of five-straight points with a kill, giving the visitors a 22-19 advantage, their first sizeable upper-hand of the set. A Thompson solo block closed out the set, opening the door for the sweep.

The final set began with Charleston Southern carrying the momentum into its favor, jumping out a 3-0 cushion and leading, or tying, all the way through a 9-9 deadlock before the Bears claimed their first edge. Mercer built as high as a five-point edge, 19-14, but Morgan's kill for the next point proved the Buccaneers weren't about to extend the match any further. Four-straight points closed the gap to 19-18 and a Thompson kill pulled CSU even, 20-20. Struckmeyer then made it 21-20 and Pais-Marden added another kill for a two-point lead late. After the Bears closed to within one, 22-21, two Thompson kills sandwiched a service ace by Rusin to lock up the triumph.

TWO-STRAIGHT GOING THE DISTANCE
The action was started earlier in the afternoon in the five-set clash with Southern Miss that went back-and-forth. Thompson was her superstar self in the tilt, hammering home 27 kills with only one error on 39 total attacks for a .667 hitting percentage. She led a quartet of Charleston Southern players in double-digit kills, as Young (12), Morgan (10) and Pais-Marden (10) all joined her.

Karelse tossed up 37 assists, while Durante added 18. Rusin finished with 18 digs, Yates had 15 and Pais-Marden posted 10.

The Bucs trailed 3-0 and 5-1 early but worked their way back to a 7-7 tie following a USM attack error. It was the first of four-in-a-row, as Young, Pais-Marden and Morgan each had a kill in the span to garner a 10-7 advantage. The Golden Eagles continued to fight, pulling even at nearly every point starting with 11-11 through 19-19. It was knotted up again at 21-21 on a Yates kill and then 23-23 following an attack error for Southern Miss, as the black and gold called timeout. Out of the break, two more attack errors flipped the first-set score into CSU's favor.

The Golden Eagles did their best to not let that repeat, as they built a 15-9 advantage and it was Charleston Southern's turn to burn a timeout. Consecutive kills from Thompson and Rusin ensued, trimming the deficit to four, but it wouldn't be until 19-16 when the Buccaneers were any closer. It was a three-point difference once more, 23-20, following a Young kill, but two-straight points pulled USM even in set wins.

The Bucs' final set victory came in the third, and it was the longest of the day. They clawed their way back after trailing by as much as eight, 11-3, slowly chipping away and making it a two-point difference by the 16-14 mark. It was a two-point separation again at 18-16 but the Golden Eagles stretched the margin to five, 21-16. Southern Miss, however, was unable to put away the feisty Charleston Southern club, as the blue and gold again found itself rallying, this time using Yates as the server to help claim its first lead of the set, 24-23, on an ace. That next point, however, was tough to come by, and both teams battled through to the end before a Pais-Marden service ace sealed it just before reaching the 30-point mark.

The Golden Eagles again found themselves up 11-3 in the fourth set before a 7-3 run, capped by a Yates kill, made it 14-10. Sensing a need to slow the momentum, USM called timeout and then worked its advantage back to 20-13. The Buccaneers cut it back to as close as four, 20-16, but only mounted one point the rest of the way.

In the deciding set, Charleston Southern trailed 7-3 but consecutive kills from Pais-Marden and Morgan cut that gap in half. The two-point difference would be as close as the Bucs would get, as Southern Miss pulled away down the stretch in the shortened scoring to lock up the overall win.

RECORD/UP NEXT
With the split decision Saturday and the triumph over Queens (N.C.) Friday afternoon, the Buccaneers come out of the weekend with a 4-3 overall record. Charleston Southern continues tournament action next weekend, traveling to Huntington, West Virginia, for the Marshall Invite. CSU's action begins Friday with two contests, a neutral-site match versus Murray State and then host Marshall before closing out Saturday morning with another neutral-site clash versus Kent State.