ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. – After acquiring their first conference win of the season Wednesday night against Lander University, the University of South Carolina Aiken volleyball team stumbled a bit and dropped an extremely tough Peach Belt Conference road match to pre-season PBC favorites Flagler College 3-0 Friday night at Flagler Gym. The Saints took the three sets 25-14, 25-13 and 25-16.

The loss drops the Pacers to 4-6 overall and 1-2 in Peach Belt action while the Saints improve to 6-4 overall and begin their campaign to defend their 2009 Peach Belt Conference title at 1-0.

South Carolina Education Lottery USC Aiken Student Athlete of the Week Shannon Byers (Morristown, Minn./Faribault) and senior Megan Disney (Knoxville, Tenn./Karns) led the Pacers with five kills a-piece in the match.

PBC Player of the Week Meg Weathersby was the only player for both squads to record double-digit kills with 12 while teammate Sophie Meyer added in eight kills of her own.

Flagler was able to hold USC Aiken to their lowest cumulative hitting percentage of the season at .025 while the Saints hit .446. The Saints defense proved to be the true story of the match as the front line for Flagler recorded a total of 16 total blocks.

USC Aiken will now head back up the road a little bit to Savannah, Ga. to tangle with the Pirates of Armstrong Atlantic State on Saturday, Sept. 18 in a 2 p.m. PBC match.