Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 AIKEN, S.C. – The University of South Carolina Aiken volleyball team dropped two matches on the final day of the USC Aiken Invitational by identical 3-2 scores.
The Pacers lost the opener to Lincoln Memorial 3-2 (25-17, 25-23, 16-25, 20-25, 20-22) before falling in the nightcap 3-2 to Valdosta State (25-22, 17-25, 25-17, 17-25, 16-14).
USC Aiken now stands at 6-3 on the young season.
Against the Railsplitters,
Taylor Stratton posted a team-high 13 kills while hitting .314.
Leah Rodgers slammed home 11 kills while
Shawn Hotson added 10 kills and 24 digs.
Amanda Bologna notched a double-double with 27 assists and 11 digs while
Sheila Walsh produced 24 assists and 15 digs.
Katie Toman registered 20 digs, but
Danielle Mercer led all Pacers with 27 digs.
Hannah Tierney nearly had a triple-double with 10 digs, nine kills and seven block assists.
Rodgers added three block assists while
Endea Ellison amassed nine kills and three total blocks.
After the teams split the first four sets, neither team could gain much of an advantage in the tiebreaker. USC Aiken went up 4-3 on a ball handling error, but the visitors quickly tied the set at four apiece.
LMU went on a brief run due in part to errors by the Pacers, taking a 7-5 advantage. However, an attack error gave the ball back to USC Aiken. Tierney notched an ace and Diedrich and Ellison combined for a block to go ahead 8-7.
Tied at 11, a service error gave the Pacers a 12-11 advantage. Another error made it 13-11. The teams traded the next two points, but with match point, USC Aiken committed back-to-back hitting errors.
The squads each had match point on multiple occasions, but after leading 20-19 on a kill from Rodgers, LMU reeled off three straight points to take the match.
Against the Blazers, Stratton paved the way with 10 kills. Diedrich, Hotson and Aly Johnson all had eight kills while Rodgers chipped in seven. Bologna distributed 23 assists and Walsh had 16.
Monica Cardona tallied a match-high 27 digs and Toman posted 25 while Hotson had 15. Diedrich and Johnson accounted for five total blocks apiece.
The squads split the first four, alternating set victories. USC Aiken won the first and third as the visitors won the second and fourth frames.
In the final stanza, USC Aiken broke a 3-3 tie by going on a 5-1 run, making it 8-4. During the spurt, Diedrich had three kills and Walsh had a kill. The Blazers rallied, knotting the contest at 10. The squads traded the next six points.
Rodgers then put the Pacers ahead with a kill, but VSU tied it on an attack error by the home team. The miscue started a 3-0 run that ended the match.
USC Aiken looks to get back on track on Friday when the team hosts Francis Marion at 7 p.m. in a Peach Belt Conference showdown in the Convocation Center.
