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SPARTANBURG, S.C. – After going 2-1 last week including a 5-2 win over cross-town rival Wofford, the Spartans travel to the Sunshine State as they face a pair of conference foes.

USC Upstate (4-9, 0-1 A-Sun) will open up its A-Sun road slate at Stetson (9-2, 1-0) on Thursday afternoon at 4:00 p.m., before traveling farther south for a Saturday afternoon match against Florida Gulf Coast (0-4, 0-1).

Last season, Upstate downed Stetson (6-1) and Florida Gulf Coast (7-0) en route to its perfect 10-0 A-Sun mark.

In the A-Sun preseason poll, Stetson was picked second behind league-favorite ETSU.  Meanwhile FGCU was tabbed ninth, with only Kennesaw State and Lipscomb following the Eagles.

Spartan Volleys…

• At South Carolina, Edgar Rodriguez stormed back from a 1-set deficit to claim victory over Ivan Machado in singles number one... Rodriguez was blanked in the first set (6-0), but won sets two and three, 6-4, 6-4... His come from behind win allowed him to post a 3-0 mark at singles number one for the week and he earned A-Sun Tennis Player of the Week honors on Feb. 23.

• In the conference opener, the Spartans and Bucs battled until the very end with Upstate falling to ETSU, 4-3, on Saturday afternoon.

• On Sunday, the Spartans lost all three doubles matches against Texas-Pan American, but rallied for the 4-3 win against the Broncos... It was just the second time in the Division I era that the Spartans lost the doubles point and still won the match.