PEMBROKE, N.C. – The University of South Carolina Aiken volleyball team earned a hard-fought 3-2 victory at UNC Pembroke in a Peach Belt Conference contest Saturday afternoon. Set scores were 25-14, 25-19, 20-25, 30-32, 15-7.

The Pacers improve to 8-2 overall, including a 2-0 mark against Peach Belt Conference competition.

Head coach Glenn Cox's team hit .231 in the contest compared to .141 for the Braves. The team combined to dish out 66 assists on 68 kills and posted five aces to just three by the home team. USC Aiken totaled 91 digs while UNC Pembroke had 86. At the net, Cox's crew totaled 19 block assists and a solo stuff.

Leading the way in the victory was Ashley Diedrich, who hammered home a match-best 21 kills while hitting .362. Taylor Stratton posted 16 kills while Shawn Hotson and Aly Johnson added nine and eight, respectively. Rookie Alicia Hines slammed home seven kills.

Sheila Walsh directed the offense by distributing a match-best 49 assists to go along with 19 digs and five aces. At the service line, Monica Cardona had a match-best two aces while Hotson, Diedrich and Katie Toman had one apiece.

Defensively, Cardona had a match-high 34 digs. Walsh earned a double-double by accounting for 19 digs. Diedrich posted a double-double with 10 digs and Hotson also chipped in 10.

At the net, Johnson led everyone with six block assists while Diedrich had four. Hines had three while Hotson and Walsh each had two block assists. Brittany Faulkner had the lone solo block in the match.

USC Aiken opened the match by racing out to a 6-1 lead. Diedrich had two kills while Hotson and Stratton each tallied one in the run. Toman also found an open spot for an ace. The home team pulled within four, but an attack error gave the ball back to USC Aiken and the squad was not threatened again in the frame. Diedrich's ace completed the set with the 11-point victory.

Trailing 19-13 in the second frame, a miscue pushed the momentum back in the Pacers' favor. USC Aiken embarked on a 12-0 run to win the set 25-19. Stratton had a pair of kills during the run as did Diedrich. However, Johnson slammed home three kills while Hotson's ace allowed the team to win the set.

Cox's team would drop the next two sets, including the fourth frame that was played to extra points. However, his talk to the team between the fourth and fifth sets worked.

Tied at 3-3 in the fifth set, an attack error by the Braves gave the Pacers the lead for good. Walsh dumped the ball into the middle of the court for a point and another error made it 6-3. After a kill by Diedrich, UNC Pembroke recorded a point. However, Hotson got things going for USC Aiken. The Pacers were not seriously threatened the rest of the way and ended up winning the match on an error by the home team.

In the deciding set, the Pacers rebounded by slamming home seven kills without an error en route to a .538 attack percentage while forcing the Braves into a -.048 attack percentage.

The Pacers return to action Wednesday when they play at Lander in a 7 p.m., match. Live stats and video are available for the match on PacerSports.com.