ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. – The University of South Carolina Aiken volleyball team fell 3-1 (30-32, 25-9, 25-23, 25-22) to Flagler in Peach Belt Conference volleyball action on Friday evening at Flagler Gymnasium.

The match started with a marathon first game with USC Aiken (15-7, 4-2 PBC) finding its way to a hard-fought victory in the opening set.

The Pacers looked to be heading to an easy victory in the first set as they were up early in the set by as many as five at 15-10. Flagler (13-6, 6-0 PBC) would eventually pull ahead in the first set, 23-21. The Pacers would not bow out in the set though, evening things up at 23-23. Flagler would score the next point to have set point, but USC Aiken behind a kill from Leah Rodgers (Longwood, Fla./Lake Mary HS) would tie things up at 24-all.

The two teams would battle back and forth over the next few points before the Pacers emerged with a 32-30 win in the first set. USC Aiken ended the first set hitting .429 as a team.

Flagler would then even things up in the match at 1-1 with an easy 25-9 victory in the second game.

Things would be a lot tighter in the third set with Flagler claiming a narrow 25-23 win to take a 2-1 lead in the match.

Flagler would take the match with a 25-22 win in the fourth set.

USC Aiken closed out its loss to Flagler hitting .193 as a team. Flagler hit .305 in its win over the Pacers. Flagler owned a 5-3 total team block advantage in the match.

Three Pacers claimed double-digit kills with Ashley Diedrich (Orlando, Fla./Dr. Phillips HS) leading the way with 13 kills. She also had 11 digs to acquire a double-double.

Hannah Tierney (Winchester, Va./James Wood HS) collected 11 kills in the match, while Shannon Byers (Morristown, Minn./Faribault HS) obtained a double-double by ending the match with 14 digs and 10 kills.

Byers is now fifth all-time in kills in Pacer history with 1,159 in her career.

USC Aiken's Samantha Lukralle (Lindenhurst, N.Y./Lindenhurst HS) led all in the match with 26 digs. The Pacer all-time leader in digs is now just 11 digs away from becoming the fourth player in Peach Belt Conference history with 2,000 or more digs.

Sheila Walsh (Fort Mill, S.C./Nation Ford HS) paced the Pacer offense in the Flagler loss with 41 assists.   

Flagler had three players record double-figure kills with Dianna Craine leading the way with 16 kills. She also had a team-high tying 15 digs to claim a double-double.

USC Aiken will next take on Peach Belt Conference foe Armstrong at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 13 in Savannah, Ga.