AIKEN, SC -- In a Peach Belt Conference battle of first-place teams, USC Aiken (20-3, 6-1 PBC) posted an impressive 3-1 win over Francis Marion (17-6, 5-2 PBC) on Friday night at “The Courthouse”.  Game scores were 30-19, 28-30, 31-29, and 30-15.

The Lady Pacers exacted some revenge on the Patriots as FMU gave USCA its only conference blemish of the year, winning a five-game thriller on Sept. 23 in Florence, S.C.  With the win, USC Aiken has equaled its best conference start since 1997 and has now won five in a row and 12 of 13.  Francis Marion falls for just the second time in their last 10 outings.  The Lady Pacers remain in a first-place tie with Armstrong Atlantic State University, while the Patriots drop a game back.

Senior middlehitter Laura Williams nearly had a career-night as she rang up 15 kills and five blocks, while hitting .560.  The native of Six Mile, S.C. just missed her career high of 17 kills.  Junior middlehitter Mandy Gerolstein added 10 kills and nine blocks, including three of the solo variety, while hitting .364.  As a team, USC Aiken tallied 15.0 team blocks.  

USC Aiken opened up a 7-3 lead in game one and maintained that margin until a 6-0 spurt created some space at 23-14. The Lady Pacers took the first set 30-19.  Gerolstein led the charge early with six kills and three blocks in the stanza.  

In game two, Francis Marion took advantage of some errant USCA attacks and got one of their nine service aces on the night from Jenna Kaiser to take a 13-7 advantage.  After a 5-1 run got the Lady Pacers back in it at 22-20, USC Aiken found itself facing game point at 29-24.  Cheryl Barcas had two kills as the Lady Pacers staved off four-straight game points before Jessica Lombardi closed out the FMU win with a kill, 30-28.  

Barcas registered 41 assists and 12 digs.  Lombardi, along with sophomore Allison Good, paced the Patriots with 12 kills each.  

Game three was the most intense as 17 ties characterized the set.  Twice USCA led by three, but could never open up a comfortable spread as the score was tied for the 14th time at 22-22.  Four of the next five points went the Patriots' way capped by a block from Kaiser and Michelle Settergren as FMU led 26-23.  

Freshmen setter Whitney Tabbert, however, served up five-straight points as USCA charged ahead 28-26.  After Francis Marion tied it at 28-28 and again at 29-29, a pair of attack errors by the Patriots handed the Lady Pacers a 31-29 win.

Tabbert, along with sophomore Shanon Sumter, provided valuable playing time off the bench for the Lady Pacers in a double switch that resulted in Tabbert’s seven assists and Sumter’s six kills and one block.  

After a quick 7-2 start, USC Aiken was never threatened in game four, pulling away to the 30-15 victory.  

Veronica Seidle and Stefanie Durham each tallied 16 digs to lead the Lady Pacer defense.  Amanda Timm added 13 kills and two blocks.  As a team, USC Aiken hit .242 while holding Francis Marion to a .047 percentage.  

Settergren finished with four blocks while Lezlie Logan chipped in nine kills and two blocks.  In the process, Logan moved into third place on the PBC's career list for kills with 1,721.   Kaiser dished out 36 assists for the Patriots, while libero Jessica Strader dug out a game-high 23 balls. 

USCA will host UNC Pembroke on Saturday at 3 p.m., while Francis Marion travels across the Savannah River to square off with Augusta State University, also at 3 p.m.