BOX SCORE 1 | BOX SCORE 2 

COLUMBIA, S.C. – The Eastern Kentucky University volleyball team dropped games to the University of South Carolina and Radford University Friday on day one of the Carolina Classic in Columbia, South Carolina.
 
The Colonels fell to the South Carolina by scores of 20-25, 19-25 and 24-26.
 
EKU came into the third set down 2-0 and quickly found themselves in an 18-8 hole. Celina Sanks then came up with a kill to spark a 12-3 Colonel run, bringing EKU within one, 21-20. During the run the Gamecocks committed seven errors, Rachel Woody put a ball down and Nikki Drost put a lethal hit on two.
 
South Carolina's Alicia Starr tallied a kill to end the run, Drost then scored back-to-back points to tie the score at 22. Cassie Knutson got in on the action, pulling EKU ahead 24-23, giving the Colonels their first lead since the first point of the set.
 
An attack error tied the set again, 24-24. A block and kill from South Carolina ended the game and the match, 26-24.
 
Sanks led the Colonels with 10 kills, followed by Knutson with eight and Drost with seven. Woody tallied 21 assists.
 
EKU fell to Radford by scores of 14-25, 15-25 and 12-25.
 
After hitting a clip of .219 in the first set EKU found themselves trailing the Highlanders 10-5 until Sanks put a ball down to spark a 7-2 EKU run to tie the score at 12-12. A duo of kills from Radford and a trio of errors from the Colonels let RU run away with a 12-1 run to move the score, 24-13. After an attack error EKU regained the service and maintained it after Lauren Kolenik found a kill of her own. Radford's Maddie Palmer put down the kill to win the set, 25-15.
 
Palmer led all players with 16 kills and 12 digs.
 
Drost led the Colonels in kills with seven.
 
EKU drops to 2-7 while Radford improves to 7-1 and South Carolina moves to 5-2.
 
The Colonels will be back in action tomorrow to play Miami of Ohio at 11 a.m.