CHARLESTON, S.C. – Charleston Southern dropped a five-set thriller to Winthrop on Friday night as the Buccaneers fell to 1-3 in league play on the year. CSU dropped the first two sets of the evening but rallied to take the next two and force the eventual fifth.
Jyriah Morgan set a career-high on the evening in kills as she finished with 21.
Winthrop claimed the first after powering ahead to a 15-7 lead off six unanswered. The Bucs rallied five consecutive points later in the set to cut the deficit, but it was too little too late as the Eagles won it at 25-20. In the second, Winthrop built an early lead again, but the Bucs were able to respond and bring it even at ten apiece. The Eagles bounced back to score 11 of the next 14 and cruise to the win at 25-18 for it.
In the third, the Buccaneers got rolling after another slow start to the set and brought it even at ten each again. A 3-0 surge put CSU ahead at 13-11, their first lead by multiple points of the night. Charleston Southern never surrendered the edge the rest of the way despite a few times the Eagles were able to draw it even.
Giada Pais-Marden scored the last two points for the Bucs late in the set from kills to win it 25-21 and keep the match alive.
In the fourth, Charleston Southern got off to their best start in a set of the evening as they led 11-7 early in it. Later in the set, the Bucs pieced together a 4-0 and then a 5-0 run back-to-back to bring their advantage to 23-14.
Skylar Yates sealed the win in the frame at 25-18 off a kill with
Ilaria Durante on the assist.
In the fifth and final set, the back-and-forth swings continued as Winthrop put themselves ahead early in it at 5-2. The Buccaneers continued to fight and eventually found themselves ahead at 10-8 following a 3-0 scoring run. CSU had a two-point flurry after and led 12-9, but the Eagles battled back into the match, scoring the next four to take a one-point lead. The Bucs had it at match point at 14-13, but Winthrop scored the next three to take the victory.
Morgan led all players with 21 kills in the matchup with Pais-Marden being the only CSU player to join her in double figures for the stat as she had 13. Yates also put together a solid performance with nine kills with Durante collecting six and
Emily Struckmeyer adding five. Durante led the team in assists as she finished with 41.
On the defensive end of the court,
Angelika Rusin collected 22 digs in the evening to lead the team. Yates, Durante and
Mallory Neale each had nine with
Presley Morris having six. At the net, Struckmeyer and
Brenna Rowland each had five total blocks on the night with Rowland having a pair of solo rejections.
Charleston Southern returns to the court to host Gardner-Webb (1-3) tomorrow afternoon. The match will be streamed live on ESPN+ from the Buc Dome with the first serve scheduled for 2:00 p.m.
