Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 NEWBERRY, S.C. – The University of South Carolina Aiken volleyball team registered a hitting percentage of .236 en route to a sweep of 2013 NCAA Tournament Participant Belmont Abbey College in the season-opening match for both teams Friday before falling to No. 15 Wingate in the second match.

The Pacers are now 1-1 on the season. Game scores were 25-14, 25-19 and 25-22 in the win. USC Aiken fell by a 25-15, 25-19 and 25-16 score to the Bulldogs.

Ashley Diedrich led USC Aiken with a team-best 10 kills. Alicia Hines was nearly flawless, pounding home eight kills against just one error while hitting .389. Taylor Stratton and Julia Forster posted seven and six kills, respectively. Hannah Tierney paced the offense with a match-best .556 attack percentage (five kills and zero errors).

Sheila Walsh dished out a match-high 32 assists while chipping in a pair of aces. Tierney and Katie Toman each sliced the defense with four aces apiece.

Defensively, Monica Cardona led everyone with 16 digs while Stratton added 10. Walsh narrowly missed out on a double-double by contributing nine digs. At the net, it was a banner match for the middle blockers. Hines and Tierney each had a solo block, but Hines posted a match-best four block assists. Stratton tallied three block assists as did Tierney. Walsh added her first two block assists since the 2012 campaign.

Head coach Glenn Cox's team jumped out to a 4-0 lead thanks in part to three straight kills by Hines to open the match. Hines and Stratton were in on a block for the fourth point of the contest. Belmont Abbey pulled within two, but Diedrich accounted for two points (a kill and a block assists – along with Walsh) before Forster slammed home a pass from Walsh for a 9-5 edge.

Belmont Abbey trimmed the deficit to three at 11-8, but Cox's group pulled away, establishing an 11-point margin near the end of the first set. Tierney's strong serving, along with a block by Stratton and Hines, solidified the first set for the Pacers, 25-14.

USC Aiken trailed 3-0 in the second stanza, but started firing on all cylinders. Down 3-0, the team reeled off six straight points thanks in part to a pair of aces from Toman. Although the Crusaders tied the set at six, the Pacers jumped back on top.

With the score 11-10 in favor of USC Aiken, Cox's crew went on a 7-0 spurt to put the set away. During the run, Stratton had a kill as did Hines. Tierney posted back-to-back aces prior to Hines finding an open spot on the court. Tierney provided another ace prior to Diedrich crushing a pass from Walsh for an 18-10 advantage. USC Aiken would cruise to the 25-19 win in the set.

The third set was a bit tougher for the Pacers as the Peach Belt Conference school trailed 10-9. However, four straight points by USC Aiken gave the team the lead for good. During the run, Hines and Stratton posted a block while Walsh tallied an ace. Diedrich completed the run with back-to-back points.

Belmont Abbey was within two at 14-12 and 15-13, but four straight points by USC Aiken ended any thought of a comeback. With match point on the line, Cox's team was unable to finish as the Crusaders made it a 24-22 ball game. However, the match ended as Coreen Norwood's serve sailed out of bounds past Toman and Cardona, completing the sweep for USC Aiken.  

For the match, the Pacers held a 39-28 edge in kills. USC Aiken also had a .236 attack percentage compared to .132 by the designated home team. Cox's group distributed 39 assists and held a 13-4 edge in aces. Defensively, the squad totaled four more digs than the Crusaders and were in on eight more block assists and two more solo blocks.

In the nightcap, the Pacers were paced by a trio of student-athletes that notched six kills apiece. Diedrich, Stratton and Walsh all shared team-high honors.

Walsh distributed a team-best 18 assists while Cardona, Diedrich and Toman each had two. Cardona guided the squad with two aces while Toman tallied one.

Defensively, Cardona, Diedrich and Walsh had seven digs apiece while Toman contributed six. The Pacers were unable to overpower the Bulldogs' attacks, registering a solo block from Forster and a block assist from Diedrich and Tierney.

USC Aiken was neck-and-neck with the nationally ranked foe for much of each set, but errors allowed the designated home squad to pull out the victory.

In the third frame, Cox's team opened play with a 2-0 lead thanks to kills from Diedrich and Stratton. After falling behind 3-2, Hines ripped a pass onto the court, evening the count. Toman then stepped to the service line and made Stephanie Tassone mishandle the serve for the ace. Diedrich's kill off a pass from Hines pushed the margin to 5-3 in favor of the Pacers.

USC Aiken increased its lead to 7-4 on back-to-back errors by the Bulldogs. However, Wingate rallied for four straight points before Tierney hammered home a ball, evening the score at 8-8. The teams traded the next eight points and the score stood at 12 apiece. WU went on a run that eventually put the match away.

The Pacers return to action tomorrow afternoon at 1 p.m., when they face Newberry. The squad completes the invitational with a 7 p.m., contest against King. Live stats and video will be available for the tournament on www.PacerSports.com.