AIKEN, SC--USC Spartanburg (13-3, 4-1 PBC)
rallied from a two games to one deficit to defeat the home standing USC
Aiken Lady Pacers (8-11, 3-2 PBC) in five games on Saturday afternoon
in Peach Belt Conference volleyball action at “The Courthouse”.
Game scores for the match were 30-18, 29-31, 29-31, 30-17, and 15-13.
In the fifth and decisive game, USCA never trailed until a service error gave
the Lady Rifles the 13-12 advantage. The Lady Pacers Achilles hill in the match
was serving as they totaled 18 errors to just eight aces. USCS had an even seven
and seven split.
Helena Jantti’s kill to make it 9-6 seemed to put USCA in the driver’s
seat. But back-to-back kills by Kristen Kunz and Mandy Rupert knotted the game
up at 10-10. Facing match point at 14-13, Lacy Helm registered her 10th kill
of the match to give the Lady Rifles their fifth win in the last six meeting
versus USCA. Three of the last four meetings between these two rivals have gone
to five games with USCS coming out on top each time.
Play was even through the first half of game one with USCA trailing 14-13. A
16-5 run, however, to close out the match gave the Lady Rifles a convincing 30-18
win.
In game two, a 3-0 run by USCA gave them a 14-10 lead. A hitting error by the
Lady Pacers followed by a Stephanie Coff ace pushed USC Spartanburg in front
for the first time since it was 4-2. Laura Williams’ kill made it 26-23
until a 5-0 run keyed by another Coff ace again gave USCS a lead 28-26. USCA,
with their backs against the wall, got back-to-back kills from Jenny Lloyd and
Amy Long to draw even 29-29. Another Long kill and a Jessica Lane ace gave game
two to the Lady Pacers 31-29.
Lloyd, Long, and Williams all led the Lady Pacers with 13 kills each. Williams,
however, had the best hitting percentage on the team at .391. Overall, the Lady
Pacers hit .148 while USC Spartanburg hit .135.
USC Aiken led in game three 23-17 until a 9-0 USCS run keyed by three straight
hitting errors by the Lady Pacers gave the Lady Rifles the 26-23 edge. Trailing
29-26, USCA rattled off five straight points on Lloyd’s serve to take
game two and lead in the match 2-1.
Game four again showed the Lady Rifles dominating play the way they did in
game one. USCA trailed 20-11 before falling 30-17.
Coff had a team-high 11 kills to go with 18 digs, two aces, and three blocks
for USC Spartanburg. Helm and Katie Hirst each added 10 kills and combined
for 10 blocks. Shannon Pallardy had 21 assists while Erin Kopec added 20. As
a team, USCS recorded 13.0 blocks.
Jantti and Lane chipped in nine kills each for USCA. Cheryl Barcas dished out
39 assists.
USC Aiken travels to Jacksonville, FL to face North Florida on Friday, October
10 at 7:00 PM. USC Spartanburg steps out of conference to play at Presbyterian
on Tuesday, October 7 at 7:00 PM.
Boxscore
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