Score: Kennesaw State 3, USC Upstate 2 (25-19, 16-25, 25-18, 23-25, 15-8)
Records: Kennesaw State (15-9, 9-1), USC Upstate (11-16, 3-7)
Key Players: Anaiah Boyer (22 kills hitting .333 and 19 digs), Kelly Marcinek (19 kills hitting .429), Kristi Piedimonte (58 assists and 12 digs), Katarina Morton (21 digs)
 
 
 Box Score (PDF) | Box Score (XML) 
 
THE STORYLINE:
· Kennesaw State moved to 9-1 in ASUN play, but it was anything but easy as USC Upstate pushed the Owls to five sets at the Hodge Center in Spartanburg, South Carolina.
 
SCHUNZEL QUOTE:
Playing at Upstate, in that gym, always presents so many different challenges than the rest of our conference opponents. It starts with their style of play, which is much different than the rest of the league and takes a bit to get used to. Unfortunately, we got pretty passive in set two, but once we started attacking them again, we dominated set three, let set four slip away and dominated set five again. We had four attackers put up huge numbers which is really good to see. I'm really proud of Karla Radillo coming off the bench and sparked us by scoring a bunch of points with her serve. All in all, another road win at this time of the season is a great thing. It's going to be a fun sprint to the finish of the regular season.

HOW IT HAPPENED: 
First Set: USC Upstate built a lead in the first set forcing KSU to use a timeout trailing 19-17. Out of the timeout, the Owls responded, going on an 8-0 run to take its first lead in the match.
 
Second Set: The Owls couldn't get much going in the second set as Upstate built a 10-3 lead early and didn't relinquish it after that.
 
Third Set: Kennesaw State took control in the third using an early 6-1 run to build a 14-9 lead. They followed that run up with another 5-1 run later to tilt the third in the Owls favor putting them up 2-1 in the match.
 
Fourth Set: Trailing 17-14, the Owls mounted a comeback to take a 19-17 lead and were looking to close out the match in four. Upstate stepped up their game though winning four of the next five points to get the lead back. The Spartans then pushed their lead to three and had a couple set points before forcing the match to go to a fifth set.
 
Fifth Set: The Owls got off to a great start in the final set taking a 5-1 lead. Upstate came back to tie it up at five, but KSU went on a 9-1 run and closed out the match on a 10-3 run. Anaiah Boyer had six of the team's 10 kills to get the win.
 
#NESTNOTES
· Today's win moves the Owls to a 9-1 ASUN record. The nine wins matches an all-time high in conference wins. KSU has previously done it twice with one time coming last season and the other time happening in 2010.
· This is the third season in a row that the Owls have beaten Upstate in five sets in Spartanburg, South Carolina.
· Kennesaw State has clinched a spot in the ASUN tournament taking place from November 17-19 in Nashville, Tennesee.
· Anaiah Boyer led the team with 22 kills hitting .333 and 19 digs eclipsing the 300-kill mark for the season setting a new season high for kills. Last year, she had 302 kills which was her previous season high.
· Kelly Marcinek had her best match of the season posting 19 kills hitting .429.  

UP NEXT
The Owls will go on the road one last time in the regular season facing Stetson on Friday, November 4 and then another huge matchup with Florida Gulf Coast on Saturday, November 5.

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.
 
All tickets to all 2016 home volleyball contests are free throughout the year.