AIKEN, S.C. – Racing out to an early 2-0 lead the University of South Carolina Aiken volleyball team stumbled down the stretch to fall 3-2 to the Pirates of Armstrong Atlantic State in Peach Belt Conference action Saturday afternoon despite stout hitting by the Pacers' attack.

After the loss, the regionally-ranked Pacers find themselves 14-13 overall and an even 6-6 in league action while the Pirates improve to 17-11 overall and 6-5 in the conference.

Prior to the match, USC Aiken honored their lone senior, Megan Disney (Knoxville, Tenn./Karns) for her contributions to the Pacer volleyball program over the last four years.

The Pacers came out of the gate strong taking the first two sets in dominating fashion 25-12 and 25-18. USC Aiken was unable to keep up the pace, falling behind over the final three sets 25-18, 25-17 and finally 15-12.

USC Aiken was led down the stretch by powerful hitting from sophomore slugger Shannon Byers (Morristown, Minn./Faribault) and freshman power-hitter Leah Rodgers (Longwood, Fla./Lake Mary) who each had 11 kills in the five-set match while Jessica Loper (MCDonough, Ga./ELC) was close behind with nine terminations of her own. Byers continued to impress recording another double-double, her 11th of the season, with 13 digs.

Setter Ashley Farwell also recorded a double-double, her seventh of the season, setting up 19 assists and corralling in 10 digs.

Armstrong Atlantic was led in its steady attack by Amanda Jones and Brittany Wolf with 12 and 11 kills respectively. Setter Megan Pando was the only Pirate to claim a double-double as she recorded a match-high 44 assists to go along with 14 digs.

Despite suffering the loss, USC Aiken was able to out hit Armstrong Atlantic .188-.157 and recorded one more block than the Pirates 8-7.

The Pacers will close out the home portion of their 2010 campaign on Wednesday, Nov. 3 with a PBC match against the rival Jaguars of Augusta State. The match is scheduled to get underway at 7 p.m.