GREENWOOD, S.C. -- UNC Pembroke had three players reach double-figure kills as they eliminated Francis Marion University in four games (31-29, 30-19, 22-30, 30-27) in the first round of the Peach Belt Conference Volleyball Tournament, Saturday afternoon (Nov. 10) in Greenwood.

The fifth-seeded Lady Braves (21-16) took advantage of FMU mistakes and played solid defense to get the win and advance in the tournament. Francis Marion, which ends its eason at 13-21, had swept UNCP in three games a week ago in Florence.

Patriot junior Jessica Lombardi tallied 16 kills and 19 digs for her 19th double-double of the year, while seniors Jackie Phiel and Michelle Settergren had 13 kills each in their final match. Junior setter Jenna Kaiser handed out 52 assists (with 14 digs), while freshman libero Kelsie Deaton dug up 21 balls.

Pheil ends her career fifth on the PBC all-time list for digs with 1,690.

Rachel Young hit .400 for UNCP with a game-high 18 kills. Tiara Anderson and Jessica Hartley added 11 kills each, while Hartley had seven block assists and UNCP as a team had 10 blocks. Setter Heather Fierce had 49 assists, while Andrea Laza added 25 digs.

The opening game was as close as neither team was able to open up more than a two-point lead at any time. FMU led 29-28 when UNCP rattled off three straight points, including back-to-back kills from Young, to seal the 31-29 win. The Braves hit .275 in the opening game with only four errors in their 51 attacks.

Game two was interrupted by a 30-minute power outage as the lights in Horne Arena went suddenly dark with UNC Pembroke up 17-11. When power was restored it didn’t slow down the Lady Braves, who won seven of the next eight points when play resumed to take a 24-12 lead. UNCP cruised to the 30-19 win, holding FMU to a .000 hitting percentage.

Game three belonged to FMU. The Patriots established a three-point lead and kept it until, at 20-17, the Lady Braves began to trim the margin when Whitney Handlin had a block and a kill on back-to-back plays to cut the lead to one. But FMU responded with a 7-2 run, including a seeing-eye kill from Jenna Kaiser that sat on top of the net before falling over for a point. FMU won the game 30-22, hitting .196 but holding UNCP to .083.

The fourth game was a carbon copy of the first as neither team could gain an big advantage. With the score tied at 24, UNCP won four of five points including two kills from Young. Tiara Anderson then put an ace down the line and FMU committed two attack errors to end the game 30-27.