Scores: Kennesaw State 3, USC Upstate 2 (25-16, 18-25, 20-25, 25-21, 15-12)
Records: Kennesaw State (13-6, 5-3), USC Upstate (13-11, 1-7)
Key Players: Sydni Shelton (20 kills hitting .340), Anaiah Boyer (17 kills , seven digs and three blocks), Kristi Piedimonte (46 assists and eight digs), Katarina Morton (28 digs)
 
Box Score (XML) | Box Score (PDF) 

SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Trailing 2-1 in the match and down 9-3 in the fourth set, Kennesaw State's backs were against the wall and they responded to scrap their way back and win the final two sets to beat USC Upstate in five sets.
 
Trailing 9-3 in the fourth set, KSU took a timeout and responded going on a 4-0 run, eventually tying the score up at 12. The Owls took the lead and pushed it to 19-15 on a Megan McGuinness kill. The Spartans cut it to 19-17, but KSU wasn't going to let this one slip away going on to clinch the set 25-21 and force a fifth.
 
After trailing early, Kennesaw State clawed its way back and got its first lead of the set after a set error to put them up 8-7. That sparked a 4-1 run to go up 10-8 causing USC Upstate to take a timeout. The Spartans came out of the timeout hot going on a 3-0 run of their own to go up 11-10. With the match tied at 12, Anaiah Boyer stepped up to get two kills to seal the win for Kennesaw State.
 
In the first set it was tight early, but with the score tied at 12, KSU used two straight blocks to spark an 8-2 run and go up 20-14. The Owls used that momentum to go on and win the opening set easily 25-16.
 
With this win over Upstate, it caps five straight matches on the road for the Owls. Next weekend, they will be at home on Friday and Saturday against NJIT and Lipscomb. Against NJIT, it will be the inaugural Griffin's Game to raise money for a couple of families that are in a battle with cancer.

Coach Schunzel on the Season Sweep against USC Upstate
"First off, our condolences go out to Upstate for the tragedy they're mourning. As we expected, they played a really good match. For much of the match, Upstate controlled the style and pace of how the game was being played. Their style is difficult to play against and is different than many of the teams in our league. I really want to credit our team for continuing to believe despite being down two sets to one and 9-3 in the fourth. From that point on, while it certainly wasn't perfect volleyball, we made a lot of big plays, we scrapped and we found a way to take it to a fifth set and win."
- Kennesaw State Head Coach Keith Schunzel
 
 Notes
- With the victory, Kennesaw State finishes off five-straight matches on the road. The Owls went 3-2 in that span winning the final three matches. The three match-winning streak is the longest in A-Sun play since 2011 when the team won six in a row. 
- Sydni Shelton led the team with 20 kills in the match hitting .340. In both matches against Upstate this season, Shelton combined to have 43 kills hitting well over .300. Out of the 108 attacks against the Spartans, she only made four errors.
- This was the sixth five set match that Kennesaw State has played in this season. The Owls are 5-1 in those matches. In four of those six five setters, KSU was trailing 2-1 in the match and went on to win all four of them.
- The 95 digs that Kennesaw State had this afternoon is fifth most in school history. Four Owls had double-digit digs led by Katarina Morton who had 28. The other three were Karla Radillo who had 15 and Maddie Jones and Fanise Cannon both had 10.
- KSU had 10.0 blocks against Upstate in the match. The Owls have had double-digits in blocks in five of the eight matches in conference play.

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Fans are reminded that tickets to all 2015 home volleyball contests are free throughout the year.