COLUMBUS, Ga. – The University of South Carolina Aiken volleyball team lost a 3-2 contest at Columbus State Friday evening. Set scores were 21-25, 25-16, 25-22, 15-25 and 11-15.

The Pacers are now 11-3 overall, including a 5-1 mark against Peach Belt Conference foes.

Miscues hurt head coach Glenn Cox's team as it recorded 30 attack errors and nine service errors. The Cougars combined for 34 errors on the night.

Leading the way for USC Aiken was junior Ashley Diedrich, who accounted for a match-high 20 kills while hitting .273. Aly Johnson posted nine kills and hit .400 in the match. Alicia Hines accounted for seven kills and three block assists while Shawn Hotson and Taylor Stratton had six kills apiece.

Sheila Walsh registered 42 assists to go along with eight digs.

Hotson, along with Monica Cardona, shared team-high honors with 15 digs apiece. Danielle Mercer notched 13 while Katie Toman tallied nine.

After dropping the first set, the team found itself trailing early on in the second frame. However, with the score tied at 12, the Pacers embarked on a 7-0 spurt to put the set away. During the run, Hines got things going with a kill. Mercer added an ace. Diedrich and Hines added kills later in the run as well.

USC Aiken trailed in the third frame, but after tying the contest at 18 on an error by the Cougars, Cox's team netted the next three points thanks in part to an ace by Mercer and two mistakes by the home team. The Pacers did not let the Cougars pull within three points the rest of the way en route to the 25-22 victory.

After losing the fourth set, the Pacers managed to trade the first 10 points of the final stanza with Columbus State. However, mistakes allowed the Cougars to take a 9-5 lead. The Pacers pulled within three on multiple occasions, but the team could get no closer and suffered the first league loss of the season.

The loss snapped a six-match winning streak by USC Aiken.

The Pacers return to action tomorrow when they play at Montevallo. The match is slated to start at 3 p.m. EST.