AIKEN, S.C. – The University of South Carolina Aiken volleyball team notched wins over Converse and Lenoir-Rhyne Saturday to close out the USC Aiken Invitational.

Against Converse, head coach Glenn Cox's team was led by Sadie McKay's match-high 15 kills. Her 10 digs gave her a double-double. Newcomer Kaitlyn Lund registered 11 kills while hitting .556.

Caroline Foster dished out 25 assists while Mallory Barash had 15 in the victory. Defensively, Kari Mercer led everyone with 22 digs. Kaitlyn Rodriguez posted 11 digs.

At the service line, the team established a school record with 19 aces. McKay and Rodriguez had five aces apiece while Emily Lammers notched four. Mercer got in the action with three aces while Foster and Lund had one ace apiece. 

After dropping the first frame, USC Aiken notched the second-set victory to tie the match at 1-1. Trailing 21-19, Lammers gave the team a side-out with a kill. She then served up an ace before registering another kill. Three straight miscues by the visitors made it 25-21.

The Pacers took control of the third frame early on and led 6-2, forcing a time-out by Converse. However, Cox's group remained in the lead throughout. Up 16-10, Lammers hammered home a kill. Then, Rodriguez served up four straight aces for a 21-10 edge en route to a 25-12 win.

USC Aiken led 10-2 early in the fourth and cruised to a 25-13 victory. When McKay dropped back to serve midway through the match, she served up the school-record 18^th ace before wrapping up the match with 19 for the Pacers.

In the nightcap against Carson-Newman, Abbey Schad led the way with 12 kills while hitting .391. Lammers and Lund had nine kills apiece.

Foster garnered 20 assists while Barash had 12. Foster notched a double-double with 10 digs. Defensively, Mercer led five people in double digits with 20 digs. 

USC Aiken won a tightly-contested first set 25-21 in the sweep. The team held a decent-sized lead throughout but the visitors pulled within three at 24-21. However, a service error ended the frame.

The Pacers trailed 9-1 in the second and faced a 24-21 deficit before Cox called timeout. After the break, Schad slammed home a kill. Lammers and McKay each had kills, knotting the score at 24-24. The teams traded points until an error gave the Bears a 29-28 lead. A service error tied it up. Then, back-to-back miscues by L-R, including a set-ending block from Lammers and Schad, gave the home team a 31-29 win.

Trailing 9-8 in the third, Schad got things rolling with a kill. Foster had an ace and McKay had a pair of kills as the squad took a 14-9 lead. USC Aiken increased the margin to 21-14 after three straight errors by the Bears. The visitors tried to make a match of it but after a pair of tremendous rallies late in the set, McKay closed the door with a thunderous kill at 25-21.

The Pacers return to action Friday when they host Mount Olive at 2 p.m. Live stats and video will be available at PacerSports.com.