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SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The Kennesaw State volleyball team (7-8, 1-0) won a decisive five set match (18-25, 25-23, 25-19, 23-25, 17-15) in their Atlantic Sun Conference opener against USC Upstate.
 
"I'm so proud of the fight that our team showed tonight," head coach Keith Schunzel said. "At times, we played as well as we've played all year and at times we played very average, but our team stuck together throughout the match and kept a positive attitude and found a way to win a league match on the road which is always hard to do. We had some incredible performances from individual players. Kelly Marcinek matched a school record with 24 kills, many of them late in the match and Kat Morton dominated the back court with 30 digs and passed lights out. This was certainly a step forward for our program as last year we came in this gym and lost set one in a similar manner as today and got blown out the rest of the match. This year we fought back winning sets two and three and pulled out a huge win in five."
 
After having six kills in the first two sets, Marcinek collected 18 in the final three to tie the Kennesaw State record for kills in a match with 24.
 
Katarina Morton was all over the court this afternoon and she finished the match with 30 digs and seven assists.
 
Kristi Piedimonte finished the match with a career high in assists with 57 and added 12 digs as well.
 
Senior Ria Ridley set a career high with 13 kills.
 
In the fifth set, KSU jumped out to an early 6-2 lead, but Upstate was not going to let it be easy as they came back to tie the match at 13. From there, Marcinek gave the Owls two match points before the team finally came through on the third to get win number one in the A-Sun.
 
After dropping the first set, the Owls responded in the second and raised their intensity level. KSU held a lead late in the set and withstood a late Upstate run to even the match at one set a piece.
 
In the third set, Marcinek came alive and led the team to a 25-19 win behind six kills.
 
With a chance to close out the match in four, the Owls led by as many as four points and held a 20-17 lead, but the Spartans stormed back and closed the set on an 8-3 run to push it to a fifth set.
 
Next weekend, the Owls will return home to continue A-Sun play and face Northern Kentucky on Friday, October 3 at 7 p.m. and Lipscomb on Saturday, October 4 at 3 p.m.
 
To keep up with the latest Kennesaw State volleyball news follow the team on Twitter @KSUOwlNation and @KSUOwlsVB or by liking Kennesaw State University on Facebook.
 
Fans are reminded that tickets to all 2014 home volleyball contests are free throughout the year.
 

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