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Eddie Gadson Memorial Scholarship Fund Charleston Southern University Big South Conference NCAA
Volleyball

No. 6 Charleston Southern Upsets No. 3 Winthrop in Five-Set Thriller

November 19, 2009
Courtesy of the Big South Conference

RADFORD, VA.  – No. 6 Charleston Southern scored the final three points of game five to upset No. 3 Winthrop, 3-2 (28-26, 14-25, 25-23, 12-25, 16-14), Thursday afternoon in the first round of the 2009 Big South Volleyball Championship presented by Musco Sports Lighting, at the Dedmon Center in Radford, Va.

The Lady Buccaneers (17-16) will take on No. 2 seed Liberty (19-11), a 3-0 winner over No. 7 Gardner-Webb, in the first semifinal on Friday, Nov. 20 at 4:30 pm. It was a historical win for Charleston Southern. It marks the Lady Bucs’ first tournament win since 1992 (10 teams) when they defeated Winthrop 3-0.  Tomorrow will also be the first semifinal appearance for CSU since 1990 when they were the No. 6 seed.

The win snaps a 31 match losing streak vs. the Eagles dating back to Oct. 29, 1994, when Head Coach Danyel Bellush was a sophomore on the CSU squad.  

In the crucial game five that saw 12 ties and seven lead changes, Charleston Southern scored the final three points and completed the upset on Emily Libertowski’s match point ace.

Amanda Hill paced CSU with a 14-kill, 15-dig double-double. Amberle Trinder and Cori Holeman were also in double-figure kills with 11 and 10 respectively. Sam Sasan dished out 45 assists and Tricia Rodl recorded a match-best 28 digs.

For Winthrop, five players reached double figure kills, led by Kellie Sellers match-high 16. She was also one of three Eagles with a double-double (17 digs). Kaley Viola (11 kills, 18 digs) and Kelsey Hall (49 assists, 19 digs) joined Sellers in the double-double category.

Charleston Southern jumped out to a 16-9 lead and held on to win a game one nail biter, 28-26. After Winthrop (19-11) rallied with a 6-0 run and eventually tied it at 21-21, the teams traded points until Cori Holeman and Hill recorded back-to-back kills to give CSU the game one victory. Hill paced the Lady Bucs, who hit .286, with a game-high six kills.

Winthrop hit .289 and Sellers and Viola combined for nine kills as Winthrop cruised to a 25-14 win in game two to even the match. With the Eagles leading 9-7, a 7-2 run broke open a tight game, pushing Winthrop’s lead to 16-10.  They would cruise onto the victory surrendering just four more points the rest of the way.

CSU won a tightly contested game three, 25-23. With the scored tied at 10-all, CSU scored seven of the next nine points to take the largest lead of the game at 17-12. The Eagles battled their way back with three straight points, two on blocks, and tied the match at 22-22. After trading the next two points, CSU closed out the game on a kill by Holeman and an attack error.

Winthrop scored the first seven points of game four and hit .400 as it cruised to a 25-12 victory, forcing a fifth and decisive game. Becca Toor (.667) and Kellie Sellers (.417) paced the Eagles with five kills apiece.

QUOTES

Charleston Southern Head Coach Danyel Bellush
 “I am really proud of my team. They did not give up. Winthrop is such a good team and to pull that out with our kids is such a good win. I am so proud of them.”

Winthrop Head Coach Sally Polhamus
“Charleston Southern came here to play a great match. You can’t win if you make 16 unforced errors and 10 unforced errors in the 5th match. Congratulations Charleston Southern, they played great.”


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