East Carolina Rallies Past USC Upstate For Pirate Invitational Title

Saturday, September 14

Greenville, N.C.

7:00 p.m.

East Carolina University

8-1

USC Upstate

1-8

USC Upstate

East Carolina

East Carolina Rallies Past USC Upstate For Pirate Invitational Title

September 14, 2019 | Volleyball

Box Score Box Score

GREENVILLE, N.C. – East Carolina erased a two sets to one deficit Saturday night, winning the fourth and fifth frames to post a 3-2 (25-21, 20-25, 23-25, 25-18, 15-8) victory over USC Upstate to conclude the Pirate Invitational inside Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum.

ECU (8-1) won the tournament title by going 3-0 during the weekend, defeating George Washington, Norfolk State and Upstate (1-8).

"It's great winning our home tournament, especially since we haven't done that for a couple of years," head coach Julie Torbett said. "It definitely wasn't the cleanest match on our part, but give a lot of credit to USC Upstate for the challenge. We will get back to work to prepare for N.C. Central."

Junior right side Bri Wood was selected the tournament MVP, recording a double-double in all three contests. She fell just one kill shy of her career high, exploding for 22 in Saturday night's win. Wood added 10 digs and hit .409 with just four errors in 44 attempts.

Junior setter Shelby Martin flirted with her second career triple-double, posting a career-high 55 assists to go along with nine kills and eight digs. She was named to the all-tournament team along with redshirt sophomore middle blocker Sydney Hall.

Junior outside hitter Kaiya Heyliger-Powell put down a career-best 12 kills and hit .364 while sophomore outside hitter Natalie Tyson matched her personal best with 13 kills and set a career high of 14 digs for her first double-double of the season. Defensively, redshirt junior libero Brandee Markwith notched 26 digs to lead all players in the contest.

East Carolina registered a .275 hitting percentage on the strength of 70 kills while holding USC Upstate to .214 efficiency. The Pirates also out-dug the Spartans 76-64 and tallied eight aces with only five missed serves.

A solo block by Hall afforded ECU a 7-4 advantage in the opening set before an ace off of Wood's serve stretched the lead to 13-6. Wood later pounded down a kill to give the Pirates a 19-10 cushion and that would be all East Carolina needed to eventually close out the frame by four despite a late USC Upstate run.

The Pirates led for much of the early part of the second, but the Spartans rallied from an 11-7 deficit to knot the score at 12. ECU captured a 17-15 cushion off a kill by Martin. However, a 4-0 run gave the upper hand to the visitors. The Pirates could not recover, dropping the stanza by five.

The third was a nip and tuck battle throughout. East Carolina found itself ahead 16-14 thanks to an Upstate attacking error. The lead would not hold though, and a race to the finish ensued. With the Spartans in front 22-20, the Pirates got consecutive kills by Heyliger-Powell and Wood to square things up. Upstate scored three of the final four points from there to surge ahead two sets to one.

ECU dug down in the fourth, racing out to a 10-3 lead. The Spartans never really threatened in the stanza, as the Pirates went up 17-8 and 22-14 on the way to a seven-point victory that forced the decider.

USC Upstate scored the first point of the fifth frame, but East Carolina responded with five-straight points to seize control. The teams traded 3-0 spurts, leaving the Pirates with an 8-4 edge as the squads made the switch. The Spartans were forced to play catch up the rest of the way and they were unable to come up with an answer. A kill by Wood made it 12-7 in favor of the home team and ECU finished Upstate off by scoring three of the final four points to improve to 3-0 in five-set matches this season.

The Pirates conclude their four-match homestand Tuesday evening when they welcome in-state opponent N.C. Central to Greenville for a 6 p.m. first serve.