CHARLESTON – After competing in the 2025 Utah Tech Tournament on Friday, Charleston Southern traveled over to Cedar City, Utah to face the Thunderbirds of Southern Utah. CSU would win the match in five sets – recording their third win of the season.

A few attacking miscommunications would result in a cold start offensively for the VolleyBucs as SUU would head into the media timeout up 15-11. Coming out of the timeout, Tristin Sutton and Emily Struckmeyer would connect on a kill, shrinking the Thunderbird lead to two points (15-13). A few points later, Bucs' starting libero Presley Morris would record a service ace to cut the deficit to one (17-16). A kill by SUU's Amaya Tobias would give Southern Utah a 24-22 lead, putting them one point away from a set victory. A timeout by Buccaneer Head Coach would give CSU one last chance to regroup and figure out a potential comeback. A kill by Charleston Southern's Sophia Kluska, mixed in with a few attacking errors by SUU would give the Bucs their first set win of the day (26-24).

Although Charleston Southern would put together multiple scoring runs in set number two, Southern Utah's 17-10 lead around the middle portion of the period would be too large of a deficit for CSU to overcome – SUU took the set 25-20.

The match's third set resembled set two, not in CSU's favor. A 18-12 SUU lead would again be too much for the Buccaneers to come back from – SUU took the set (25-21) as well as a 2-1 lead in the match.

The possibility of Charleston Southern being upset by the hosting Thunderbirds set in at the beginning of the fourth set as the Bucs would start out cold once again. SUU would score eight of the set's first ten points (8-2). Not much light was being found in the metaphorical tunnel through the first half of the set four as Southern Utah would enter the media timeout with a 15-9 lead. Nine of the following ten points would be scored by CSU, highly contributed to by senior outside hitter Skylar Yates, giving the Bucs a 20-17 lead (their first lead since the 3-2 mark in the third set). Tristin Sutton, who achieved a new career-high for herself in the assist column (40) Saturday, would record assists on the final three points of set number four (25-20).

The fifth and final set of the match did not feature a cold start for CSU. With the set tied 6-6, Charleston Southern would score nine of the final ten points – awarding themselves a 15-7 set win, a 3-2 match win, and their third team win of the year.

Notables:

• Tristin Sutton's 40 assists is a new career-high.

• Skylar Yates' 5 total blocks is a new career-high.

• Yates also moved into the Top-10 in all-time career kills in CSU history.

• Cara McLean recorded her 100th career assist.

• Emma Bednarek recorded double-digit kills for the first time in her CSU career (11).

• Freshman, Ola Matusiak made her collegiate volleyball debut.

Up Next:

Next weekend, Charleston Southern will travel to Daytona Beach, Florida for the 2025 Bash at the Beach hosted by Bethune-Cookman University. CSU will play the Jacksonville Dolphins at 10:00 AM and Bethune-Cookman at 6:30 PM on Friday, September 12. The Bucs will see South Carolina State that Saturday, September 13, at 11:00 AM.

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