CARROLLTON, Ga. - USC Aiken completed an opening day sweep by taking a four-game match win over Barton in its second match of the day on Friday.

The Pacers bested Barton 24-26, 25-19, 25-18, 25-23 to move to an early 2-0 on the 2009 season. Earlier in the day, USC Aiken kicked off their 2009 campaign emphatically by taking a 3-0 season-opening win over Albany State in its first game of the West Georgia Classic at The Coliseum on the West Georgia campus. USC Aiken bested Albany State 25-10, 25-19, 25-19 in the three-game match.

USC Aiken concludes its four matches in two days season-opening tournament with two more matches on Saturday, beginning the day by taking on head coach Glenn Cox's alma mater Valdosta State at 10 a.m. Directly after taking on Valdosta State, USC Aiken will finish up its time in the West Georgia Classic by taking on Sunshine State Conference power Rollins at 12:30 p.m.

USC Aiken 3, Albany State 0

Three newcomers guided the Pacers in their season opener.

Freshman Lindsay Mortenson (Aliso Viejo, Calif./Santa Magarita Catholic) led the Pacer attack, finishing with 11 kills in her first regular season match in a USC Aiken uniform. Mortenson was an astonishing 11-for-12 on her attack attempts in the match.

Fellow freshman Shannon Byers (Morristown, Minn./Faribault) concluded the match just behind Mortenson with nine kills. Byers also had four blocks in the match.

Freshman libero Samantha Lukralle (Lindenhurst, N.Y./Lindenhurst) led the Pacers with seven digs and four service aces.

Senior setter Lauren Cedeno (Jacksonville, Fla./West Georgia) returned to the campus where she spent her first year by ending the Albany State match with 22 assists. Senior Whitney Tabbert (Stewardson, Ill./Stewardson-Strasburg) chipped in with 11 of her own to leave the senior tandem accounting for 33 of USC Aiken's 39 assists in the match.

The stout USC Aiken defense held Albany State to an attacking percentage of just .016 in the match.

USC Aiken 3, Barton 1

Byers and Jessica Loper (McDonough, Ga./Eagles Landing Christian) led the Pacers in the match victory over Barton. Byers had a total of 16 kills in the match, finishing just ahead of Loper, who had 11.

The senior tandem of Cedeno and Tabbert once again paced USC Aiken in the contest with Cedeno ending the four-game match with 31 assists. Tabbert added 16 assists of her own.

Lukralle ended the Barton match with three service aces to conclude her first day in Pacer duds with seven service aces. She also had 12 digs to finish just behind Byers for the team high in the department in the match. Cedeno was the third Pacer with double-digit digs in the match with 10.

Barton took a hard fought 26-24 victory in game one to put the Pacers behind 1-0 after the first game, but the Pacers rallied to easily take the next two games before ending the match with a 25-23 victory over a feisty Barton.

West Georgia Classic Tournament Page