AIKEN, S.C. – The University of South Carolina Aiken volleyball team posted a 3-1 victory over Lander Wednesday evening in a Peach Belt Conference contest.
The Pacers are now 13-2 overall and 5-0 in league play. The Bearcats fall to 9-5 overall and 2-4 against conference competition.
Leading the way for head coach
Glenn Cox's team was rookie
Alie Smith's match-high 17 kills. She notched a career-high 20 digs for a double-double.
Julia Forster tallied 15 kills and 10 digs for a double-double while
Avery Macklin blasted the defense for 12 kills while hitting .400.
Okwunne Ogbogu came off the bench to slam home six kills while notching a .500 attack percentage.
Alicia Hines added five kills.
Emily Teelon notched a double-double with a match-high 49 assists to go along with 13 digs.
Defensively,
Rebecca Martinez tied the school record for digs in a four-set match with 38. She narrowly missed out on a double-double with eight digs.
USC Aiken jumped on top of the visitors by a 5-2 count, with the last point coming via an ace from Smith. Cox's group extended the margin to 11-5 after a kill from Forster and an error by the Bearcats. A flurry of points pushed the score to 22-13 before Hines, Smith and Hines registered kills for the 25-17 victory.
The second set started off in fine fashion for USC Aiken as the home team rattled off six straight points. Smith had two kills as did Macklin during the spurt. The visitors tied the frame at 13-13, but Smith posted a kill to break the tie. Leading 18-17, Forster posted a pair of kills while Hines had one en route to a 22-17 advantage. Hines finished the frame with a kill for the 25-21 win.
After dropping the third stanza, USC Aiken bounced back to take the fourth 25-21. Trailing 13-12, Macklin sliced the defense for a kill. Back-to-back errors by Lander made it 15-13 and forced a time-out. Forster and another error pushed the score to 17-13.
Lander bounced back to pull within two at 22-20, but USC Aiken finished the visitors off on a kill by Smith and a block from Ogbogu and Macklin.
The Pacers return to action Friday when they host Augusta at 7 p.m. Live stats and video will be available at PacerSports.com.
