CHARLESTON, S.C. – Charleston Southern volleyball just concluded the first half of their Big South slate this past weekend, splitting a pair of contests. Currently, they sit just one match outside of a spot in the conference championship with plenty of the season left to play.
 
The Buccaneers have been led by first-year head coach Carry Brown. She was announced as the team's new leader in June and had her first official practice with the team in August. Brown arrived at CSU after spending the past five years at Florida College. Her last season with the Eagles was one of the best in program history as the team won their conference title and went 28-10 overall. For her assistant coach, she brought along a recent graduate of her program, Emilie Selvidge, a two-time conference setter of the year as well as FC's all-time leader in assists, to help direct the start of her time at CSU.
 
Coming into the role, Brown inherited a relatively young squad that featured five freshmen, seven sophomores and four upperclassmen with plenty of upside in everyone's skillsets at every position on the court. During the preseason, Indigo Young and Skylar Yates were named Preseason All-Conference with Charleston Southern being selected at third overall, their highest placing in it since 1989 and 1990. The pair of honorees marked the first time in program history that two CSU volleyball players were named Preseason All-Conference since those honors began in 2006.
 
Once the Buccaneers wrapped up their fall camp, they started the season at the Charlotte Invitational. They opened their tournament schedule facing a pair of teams in Group of Five conferences – Charlotte (American) and Coastal Carolina (Sun Belt). On Friday, they dropped their season-opener to the 49ers in the morning slate but regrouped to knock off the Chanticleers in five sets during the evening slate for the Bucs' first win in the Carry Brown era. They defeated Elon on Saturday morning in four sets to come away with a 2-1 record after the first weekend of play.
 
The Bucs hit the road that Tuesday for a match at South Carolina State, controlling the match for a 3-0 victory. The ensuing weekend, they hosted the CSU Tournament welcoming a trio of high-level mid-major programs. They fell in three sets in their opener to Chattanooga but responded again to win the next two matches with a five-set win over North Carolina A&T and Southern Illinois-Carbondale by sweep. At the halfway point in the nonconference schedule, the team stood at 5-2.
 
The following two weeks saw the Buccaneers take on some of their stiffest matchups of the season, with five of the seven opponents ranking near the top of their respective conferences with their league schedules underway now as well. One of the highlights from those contests was a Friday night battle with #25 Auburn, the first matchup the program has had with a ranked opponent. The Bucs started hot, closing the first on a 13-4 run to complete a comeback and take an early 1-0 lead over the Tigers.
 
Charleston Southern stopped their losing skid during their final contest of the nonconference season, South Carolina State, on September 16 to conclude the Buccaneer Invitational. The Bucs took the win by a 3-0 scoreline over the Bulldogs and took The Citadel to five sets and nearly gave them their first loss of 2023 as they entered the day at 11-0.
 
Big South play began for the Buccaneers on September 22 hosting Presbyterian with the visitors claiming the league opening win 3-1. The Bucs hit the road the following weekend, falling in five at USC Upstate and then getting their first victory of the conference schedule at UNC Asheville that Saturday 3-1.
 
For the past two weekends, Charleston Southern has hosted four different opponents which included the top two teams in the league. CSU got a 3-1 victory over Radford this past Friday to get back into the mix of the conference tournament. They started the homestand with a narrow 3-2 loss to Winthrop and closed it with a solid showing against High Point. They also faced Gardner-Webb falling in three.
 
Through the first half of the conference schedule, the team has had a balanced attack with six players averaging over two points per set. Indigo Young leads the team in the category at 3.62 and has Giada Pais-Marden right behind her at 3.00, the 10^th-highest mark in the conference. Pais-Marden is also 10^th for kills per set in league play with a 2.73 average.
 
Ilaria Durante is the only player to have appeared in all 28 sets so far in Big South play for CSU and leads the team in assists at 209 for a 7.46 per set average, 4^th in the league. Durante has also been a steady back row player for the Bucs averaging 3.29 digs per set, 9^th in the conference, being the Big South's only player to be in the top ten for assists and digs.
 
Skylar Yates has started to shine in serving again this year, collecting ten aces during conference play so far to double her total on the year now to 20. Her 0.37 per set is 5^th in the conference and has helped the Bucs create an advantage in that area. She has also started to be a premier focus in the Buccaneers' offense as she has ten or more kills in four conference matchups this year, including the past three.
 
At the libero position, it has back-and-forth between senior Angelika Rusin and freshman Mallory Neale for parts of the season. Rusin currently sits in third in the league for digs per set at a 4.61 average in league competitions. Neale is averaging a tick under two per set in conference matches but is coming off a weekend where she collected 26 over seven sets for a smidge under four each set in the two matches and serving as the libero the entire time.
 
There are now seven matches left in the season and the Buccaneers' season goal of claiming a conference title is still well within reach as they have gone toe-to-toe with some of the conference's top teams.  Charleston Southern kicks off the second half of the league schedule this weekend facing Gardner-Webb (3-4) and Winthrop (6-1), looking to avenge a pair of losses from two weeks ago and begin their climb up the Big South standings.
 
The remaining schedule for the Buccaneers can be found below along with the current conference standings. The top four teams will advance to the single-elimination Big South Tournament that will be contested from November 18-19 on the campus of High Point University in the Millis Athletic Center. The semifinals will be held on Saturday with the finals on Sunday and all matches will be streamed live on ESPN+ with the winner receiving the Big South Conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
 
2023 Volleyball Remaining Schedule:
10/20 at 6:00 p.m. – at Gardner-Webb
10/21 at 2:00 p.m. – at Winthrop
10/27 at 6:00 p.m. – vs UNC Asheville (ESPN+ | Senior Night)
10/28 at 2:00 p.m. – vs USC Upstate
11/3 at 6:00 p.m. – at High Point
11/4 at 2:00 p.m. – at Radford (ESPN+)
11/10 at 6:00 p.m. – at Presbyterian (ESPN+)
 
2023 Women's Volleyball Conference Standings (Through 10/14)

1. High Point             7-0
2. Winthrop               6-1
3. Presbyterian        5-2
4. USC Upstate        3-4
    Gardner-Webb    3-4
6. Chas. Southern   2-5
     Radford                    2-5
8. UNC Asheville     0-7