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Pirates end Patriots' season in PBC Tournament semifinals

FLORENCE, S.C. -- Led by senior Traci Knuth's 13 kills and 12 digs, third-seeded Armstrong Atlantic State University swept to a quick 30-22, 30-18, 30-19 win over second-seeded Francis Marion University, Friday evening (Nov. 3) in the semifinals of the 2006 Peach Belt Conference Volleyball Tournament.

AASU (20-14) will meet top-seeded USC Aiken in the tournament final, Saturday at 2 p.m. in FMU's Smith University Center.

Francis Marion ends its first season under coach Paul MacDonald at 26-8, the 10th highest victory total in the program's 34-year history.

Francis Marion was led by senior Lezlie Logan's 12 kills. The Cleburne, Texas, native ends her standout career with a school-record 1,878 kills, only 28 shy of the PBC all-time mark.  Senior libero Jessica Strader added 17 digs and sophomore setter Jenna Kaiser handed out 30 assists.  Strader finished her career owning the Francis Marion and conference career records for digs with 2,248, fifth best in NCAA Division II history.

FMU sophomore Allison Good registered nine kills in her third match-up with sister Lauren, who plays on the AASU squad. 

AASU began the match on a tear, roaring out to a 13-5 lead in game one. That lead ballooned to as many as nine as a Rachel Falco kill made it 25-14. AASU won six points behind the serve of Knuth. That dominance continued in game two as the Pirates rallied from a 4-1 deficit and broke open a 9-9 tie with a 6-0 run, getting two kills from Leah Schmeidge. That was just the beginning of the bad news for Francis Marion, who hit .076 in game two, as AASU had three more runs of four points or more.

The barrage continued in the third game as the Pirates used a 7-0 run, once again behind Knuth's serve, to break open a 4-4 tie. Francis Marion rallied to cut the lead to 13-9, but that would be as close as the Patriots would get as AASU went on an 11-5 run to put the game out of reach.

Defense was the name of the game for Armstrong Atlantic State with 14 team blocks in the match. That helped keep Francis Marion's hitting percentage to .084. In addition to Knuth's .550 hitting percentage, Schmeidge added nine kills, while the 6-3 Falco and Miller added eight kills each. Rindy Vidovich had 13 digs, eight total blocks (three solo), and six kills.

AASU advances to the PBC Championship game for the eighth straight season, while USC Aiken makes its first appearance in 10 years. The winner will receive an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

 
Volleyball Box Score
2006 Peach Belt Conference Volleyball
#3 Armstrong Atlantic vs #2 Francis Marion (Nov 03, 2006 at Florence, S.C.)



   Armstrong Atlantic     |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1  Good, Lauren........  3|  5   5  12  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  0  0|  0
3  Schmiedge, Leah.....  3|  9   2  17  .412|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 0  9  3|  0
11 Knuth, Traci........  3| 13   2  20  .550|  2|  2   0|  1| 12| 0  1  2|  0
12 Vidovich, Rindy.....  3|  6   1  24  .208|  0|  0   0|  0| 13| 3  5  0|  0
15 Miller, Adriana.....  3|  8   1  26  .269|  1|  2   0|  0| 11| 0  3  0|  0
16 Thornton, Magaret...  3|  0   1   2 -.500| 24|  0   1|  0|  8| 0  0  0|  0
2  Yates, Stacy........  3|  0   0   0  .000| 21|  0   1|  0| 11| 0  0  0|  0
5  Yates, Nicole.......  3|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  1   1|  0|  4| 0  0  0|  0
6  Kixmiller, Kassi....  1|  0   0   0  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
9  McCoy, Stacia.......  1|  0   0   1  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
10 Clarke, Gwendolyn...  1|  1   0   1 1.000|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 0  0  0|  0
19 Falco, Rachel.......  3|  8   3  19  .263|  0|  0   0|  0|  1| 1  2  0|  0
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
   Totals..............  3| 50  15 122  .287| 48|  5   3|  1| 62| 4 20  5|  0

 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 14.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  18  4  42  .333   GAME SCORES           1  2  3  TEAM RECORDS
   2  16  4  33  .364   Armstrong Atlantic.. 30 30 30  20-14
   3  16  7  47  .191   Francis Marion...... 22 18 19  26-8

   Francis Marion         |     ATTACK      |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF|  BLOCK |GEN
## Name                 GP|  K   E  TA   PCT|  A| SA  SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1  Lombardi, Jessica...  3|  5   7  34 -.059|  1|  0   2|  1|  7| 0  1  1|  0
3  Logan, Lezlie.......  3| 12   5  30  .233|  0|  0   1|  0|  1| 0  2  0|  0
5  Kaiser, Jenna.......  3|  4   1   9  .333| 30|  0   1|  0|  8| 0  0  0|  0
7  Good, Allison.......  3|  9   7  34  .059|  2|  1   0|  0|  4| 0  0  0|  0
8  Phiel, Jackie.......  3|  3   2  19  .053|  2|  0   0|  0|  8| 0  2  0|  0
13 Settergren, Michelle  3|  6   5  15  .067|  0|  0   0|  0|  0| 1  1  0|  0
2  Strader, Jessica....  3|  0   0   0  .000|  2|  0   2|  3| 17| 0  0  0|  0
11 O'Leary, Jess.......  3|  0   0   2  .000|  0|  0   0|  0|  4| 0  0  0|  1
   TEAM................   |                 |   |       |  1|   |        |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
   Totals..............  3| 39  27 143  .084| 37|  1   6|  5| 49| 1  6  1|  1

 TEAM ATTACK PER GAME                               TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 4.0
 Game  K  E  TA   Pct
   1  16  6  49  .204   Site: Florence, S.C. (Smith Univ. Center)
   2  12  9  38  .079   Date: Nov 03, 2006   Attend: 203   Time: 1:11
   3  11 12  56 -.018   Referees: David Mabe, Greg Fletcher, T. Hill, B. Waldrip
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