Converse, USC-Upstate Unbeaten in Converse Volleyball Invitational
Spartanburg, SC — At the end of the Converse Volleyball Invitational, only two teams made it through undefeated. Converse College and USC-Upstate finished the tournament 3-0 and 4-0 respectively. The two Spartanburg institutions combined to drop only one game en route to their perfect records.
USC-Upstate started day 2 of competition with a strong performance against Carolina Intercollegiate Athletics Association (CIAA) member Elizabeth City State University (ECSU). The Spartans scored 13 straight points in game one coasting to a 30-10 win. ECSU would produce more offense in games two and three, but it would not be enough as the Spartans won 30-18 and 30-17 in the last two games.
In the second match of the day, Presbyterian College and North Carolina Central University would play in the most exciting match of the tournament. Presbyterian would take game one by the score of 30-27. North Carolina responded by taking game two 30-28. In what proved to be the most lopsided game of the match, Presbyterian won 30-23. Then all the fun would begin. After the Blue Hose of Presbyterian jumped out to a 3-0 lead, the Eagles answered by taking a 6-4 lead. The game continued its back and forth pattern into the 40 point mark. Presbyterian would finally win the game four, and the match, by a score of 42-40. The 42 points scored by the Blue Hose is two shy of the NCAA Division II record for points scored in a single game. Presbyterian scored a combined 130 points in four games which ties and NCAA Division II record. Western Oregon, on November 3, 2001, and Northern Colorado, on September 3, 2003, both reached the 130 point mark as well.
Following their marathon game, Presbyterian took the court against USC-Upstate. Upstate again proved to be too much for their opponent to handle. The Spartans would win games one and two 30-21 and 30-26. Although the Blue Hose looked as if they would take one from the Spartans, trailing by one at 27-26, USC-Upstate would ultimately win the match taking game three 30-28. Presbyterian finished 1-1 on the day.
Fayetteville State University (FSU) and Belmont-Abbey would take to the court for the third match of day. The two North Carolina teams battled to the only 5-game match of the tournament. FSU won game one 31-29 before Belmont Abbey answered by taking the next two games. Belmont Abbey won game two by the same 31-29 score. Game three would prove to be as tight as the first two with the Crusaders capturing the game 30-28. With their backs against the walls, FSU was able to force a fifth game winning 30-25, the largest margin of victory in the match. In game five, 15 points would not be enough to the match. After Belmont Abbey tied the game at 18, FSU would close out the Crusaders for good winning 20-18. Four of the five games were decided by only two points.
The host school’s first opponent of the day would be ECSU. Converse, on their way to a perfect start of the season, defeated their CIAA opponent. The All-Stars doubled up on ECSU in the first and third game winning 30-15 in each game. Converse was victorious in the second game by the score of 30-16. Elizabeth City falls to 0-2 on the second day of the tournament.
The sixth match of the day featured CIAA school North Carolina Central taking on CVAC member Pfeiffer. The Eagles would hand Pfeiffer their only loss of the tournament. North Carolina Central seemingly got stronger with each game, winning in three games (30-27, 30-24, 30-19).
Having already beaten two teams from the CIAA, Converse took on its third opponent from the CIAA in the form of Fayetteville State University. Not to be denied a perfect start to the season; Converse would need only three games to defeat FSU. The All-Stars would take game one 30-21. In the second game, FSU was holding their own and tied the score at 15. Converse then went on a nine point run and took 15 of the 20 final points to seal game two winning 30-20. In game three, the All-Stars would again ride the strength of a l