GAFFNEY, S.C. - The University of South Carolina Aiken volleyball team concluded the first day of the Limestone Southeast Crossover Volleyball Tournament at the Timken Center on Friday with two wins.

USC Aiken acquired a hard-fought 3-2 victory over Tusculum in the first match (25-16, 24-26, 22-25, 25-14, 15-11) before concluding the first day of the tournament with a 3-1 (25-15, 20-25, 25-18, 25-14) win over host Limestone in the nightcap.

The two wins on Friday evening by the Pacers at the Timken Center left USC Aiken in the midst of a season-high three-match winning streak dating back to its victory over Catawba in its final match of the 2009 USCA Volleyball Invitational last weekend at the Convocation Center.

In its first match of the day against the South Atlantic Conference's Tusculum, USC Aiken jumped out to a convincing 25-16 victory in the first game. The Pacers would then drop two straight games by the scores of 24-26 and 22-25 to enter the fourth match down 2-1 to the Pioneers.

USC Aiken regrouped from that point forward to take the next two games and the match overall at 3-2. The Pacers dominated Tusculum, 25-14, in the fourth game before concluding the match with a 15-11 win in the fifth game.

The second match saw the Pacers roll off a dominating 10-point 25-15 victory over the homestanding Saints in the first game. The Pacers would fall 20-25 in the second game, but would then battle back to two straight game victories to take the match and improve to 6-3 on the 2009 season. USC Aiken won game three 25-18 and game four, 25-14.

USC Aiken had four players with double-digit kills in the win over Tusculum. Megan Disney (Knoxville, Tenn./Karns) led USC Aiken in the match against a team from her home state with 13 kills. Three Pacers finished just behind Disney's magical night with 10 kills each with Lindsay Mortenson (Aliso Viejo, Calif./Santa Margarita), Jessica Loper (McDonough, Ga./ELCA) and Susan MacClary (Virginia Beach, Va./Ocean Lakes) all recording 10 kills in the win over the Pioneers. Disney and Mortenson both had four blocks in the match.

Lauren Cedeno (Jacksonville, Fla./West Georgia) led the Pacers in the win over Tusculum with 42 assists. Pacer libero Samantha Lukralle (Lindenhurst, N.Y./Lindenhurst) led the Pacers in digs with 20 in the match.

In the match victory over Limestone, Shannon Byers (Morristown, Minn./Faribault) returned from her recent battle with an injury to lead the Pacers with 12 kills and 19 digs in the win over the Saints. Byers' 19 digs were just off the team high in the match of 20 set by Lukralle.

Chelsey Kight (Charleston, S.C./West Ashley) was the only other Pacer with double-digit kills in the Limestone match with 10.

Mortenson and Loper both had seven blocks in the match, while Cedeno led the Pacers in assists once again with 26. Whitney Tabbert (Stewardson, Ill./Stewardson-Strasburg) was not far behind her with 17 assists.

The Pacers will next conclude the Limestone Southeast Crossover Volleyball Tournament by playing Lenoir-Rhyne (9 a.m.) and Mount Olive (1 p.m.) tomorrow (Friday).