AIKEN, S.C. – Samantha Lukralle became the all-time leader in digs in school history and the University of South Carolina Aiken volleyball team split a pair of matches during the first day of the 2012 USC Aiken Volleyball Invitational at the Convocation Center.
USC Aiken (3-3) won its first match of the day, 3-1 (25-19, 25-20, 22-25, 25-19), over North Greenville (4-3). The Pacers fell 3-1 (25-15, 26-24, 22-25, 25-11) to national No. 20 Wingate (6-0) in its final match on Friday.
Lukralle (Lindenhurst, N.Y./Lindenhurst HS) entered Friday's matches needing just 44 digs to become the all-time leader in digs in Pacer history. Lukralle finished USC Aiken's two matches on Friday with 49 digs to now have 1,759 digs in her career. The dig total allowed her to surpass USC Aiken Hall of Famer Roxanna Rivera (1994-97) for the most digs in school history. Rivera concluded her illustrious Pacer career with 1,753 career digs.
Lukralle's 1,759 digs also moves her into the top five in the category in Peach Belt Conference history.
Lukralle and USC Aiken will open the second day of the USC Aiken Volleyball Invitational with a 12 p.m. match against Palm Beach Atlantic. The Pacers will then close their home tournament by squaring off against Nova Southeastern for the first time since 2003. The USC Aiken-Nova Southeastern match is set for 4 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 8
Match One – USC Aiken 3, North Greenville 1 (25-19, 25-20, 22-25, 25-19)
USC Aiken picked up a 3-1 (25-19, 25-20, 25-22, 25-19) four-set victory over North Greenville in its first match of the USC Aiken Volleyball Invitational.
The Pacers collected easy wins in the first and second sets before North Greenville acquired a 25-22 win in the third game.
USC Aiken responded in the fourth set with a 25-19 victory that allowed the Pacers to take the match.
The Pacers concluded the win over the Crusaders hitting .241 as a team. North Greenville hit .215 as a team in its loss to the Pacers. The Pacers held a 6-4 total team block advantage.
Two Pacers recorded double-digit kills with Hannah Tierney (Winchester, Va./James Wood HS) leading the way with 12 kills. Ashley Diedrich (Orlando, Fla./Dr. Phillips HS) added 10 of her own in the Pacer win.
Lukralle was one of two Pacers with double-digit digs, ending the match with a match-high 17 digs. Claire Patten (Boulder, Colo./Mercer) had 13 digs in the Pacer victory.
Sheila Walsh (Fort Mill, S.C./Nation Ford HS) facilitated the Pacer offense in the win over North Greenville with 37 assists.
Rebekah Mayes led North Greenville with 18 kills and nine digs.
Match Two - #20 Wingate 3, USC Aiken 1 (25-15, 26-24, 22-25, 25-11)
Wingate opened its match victory over the Pacers by taking the first two sets.
USC Aiken bounced back in the third set to claim a 25-22 win in the game. The Pacer victory in the third set marked the first time all season that Wingate had even dropped a set in the 2012 season. Wingate has now won 56 consecutive regular season matches.
USC Aiken finished the loss to No. 20 Wingate hitting .041 as a team. Wingate closed out its win hitting .186 as a team. The Pacers held a slight 5-4 total team block advantage.
Lukralle was one of four Pacers with double-digit digs in the loss to Wingate. She ended the match with 32. Patten added 10, while Shannon Byers (Morristown, Minn./Faribault HS) and Walsh both had 11 digs. Walsh added 22 assists to claim a double-double.
Diedrich was the only Pacer to secure double-digit kills in the match with 12.
Cory McGowan led Wingate with 14 kills and 18 digs.
