CLINTON, S.C. – A pulse-pounding back-and-forth battle on Friday night between the Presbyterian College volleyball team and Charleston Southern would ultimately sway in the visitors' favor, as PC came up on the losing end of a four-set decision (21-25, 25-19, 20-25, 23-25).

Featuring a handful of set-altering runs and a combined 32 kills by the trio of Julia Yurkovich, Courtney Williams, and Elyse Hutchinson, the Blue Hose would fall victim to a match-ending 5-0 run in the Big South opener.

Head coach Madie Moss's crew will hit the road again for their next four affairs, facing USC Upstate and UNC Asheville in a sub-24-hour period next weekend.


 
SET ONE – CHARLESTON SOUTHERN def. PC, 25-21
 
- An early 7-0 sprint by the Buccaneers left Presbyterian with an uphill climb throughout the opening period, going ahead by as many as seven points twice.

- Down by a 15-8 margin, the Blue Hose slowly inched closer thanks to a 6-3 glimmer that moved the deficit to 21-18.

- A pair of kills by Williams and Ashley Miller planted some seeds of doubt in Charleston Southern, although the result was secured in the next volley to give CSU the Set One edge.


 
SET TWO – PC def. CHARLESTON SOUTHERN, 25-19
 
- The Bucs carried over their momentum into the second stanza with a 4-1 advantage, only for PC to once again burrow a path back into the fray.

- After seeing the deficit increase to 14-9, the Scotsmen unleashed a lengthy scoring spree to completely turn the tide and eventually mirror the match at one win apiece.

- That extended run topped out at 10-2, with Hutchinson scattering two blocks and a kill during that sequence.

- Suddenly in front 19-16, Moss's bunch finished the job with a couple of clutch swings by Hutchinson and Ava Smith.

- Altogether, Presbyterian closed Set Two on a 16-5 landslide. Williams, Smith, and Hutchinson contributed nine of those 16 points to hand the Blue Hose their first set victory in conference territory.


 
SET THREE – CHARLESTON SOUTHERN def. PC, 25-20
 
- The beginning of the next chapter was again favorable to Charleston Southern, claiming five of the first six points to allow them to stay ahead of PC.

- Miller and Yurkovich helped the home side recover with a quick 4-0 spurt that pulled Presby within two (19-17), although the Buccaneers delivered a counterstrike in the form of a 4-1 run themselves.

- Set Three concluded on a service error, putting CSU back in the driver's seat despite 15 kills by the Blue Hose in that period alone.


 
SET FOUR – CHARLESTON SOUTHERN def. PC, 25-23
 
- The final act of Friday's frenzy was certainly the most unpredictable, as a 6-1 start by Charleston Southern was erased following four PC points in succession.

- A 5-0 Buccaneer run would again create some distance between the two, but just as they had all evening, Presbyterian displayed zero quit in them.

- Trailing 20-15 and yet to take any lead in Set Four, the Blue Hose landed their longest uninterrupted scoring streak of the entire season by launching an 8-0 run. Hutchinson was instrumental in that stretch once more, adding another block and two kills to her credit.

- Among the avalanche was an Amaris Alvarez ace, although a controversial ball-placement ruling (which prevented a ninth consecutive Presbyterian point) allowed CSU to turn Presby's 8-0 run into five straight points in their own right.

- That ended the match then and there, preventing the hotly-contested bout from going any further and avoiding a catastrophic Charleston Southern collapse.


 
UP NEXT
 
- The Blue Hose will have to wait until the regular season finale on November 14 to try and get a dose of payback on the Bucs, transitioning to next weekend's brief trip to USC Upstate and UNC Asheville.

- Next Friday's clash in Spartanburg will entail two rivals separated by less than an hour who will both be looking for their first league W. The Spartans were felled by Asheville on Friday in a five-set marathon, losing the final set 20-18.

- First serve is scheduled for 6:00 in seven days, streaming live on ESPN+.