FLORENCE, SC – Freshman Hannah Tierney recorded five of her 11 kills in the decisive fifth game to lead USC Aiken to a come-from-behind 25-19, 13-25, 18-25, 25-18, 15-13 win over Francis Marion University, Saturday afternoon (Sept. 24) in Peach Belt Conference women's volleyball action.

FMU (4-8 overall, 0-2 in the PBC) will play host to local-rival UNC Pembroke on Wednesday at 7 p.m.

Senior Ashlee Crook paced Francis Marion with 14 kills and 12 digs.  Senior Amanda Mitchell, who injured her knee in last Tuesday's match at The Citadel, came off the Patriot bench and contributed 10 kills and a .412 attack percentage in just four games.  Sophomore 6-1 middle blocker Megan Mooney added nine kills, nine blocks, and two service aces.

Sophomore setter Nicole Bennett registered 34 assists, while senior libero Hallie Legg recorded 17 digs.

Sophomore outside hitter Leah Rodgers led USCA (6-9, 1-1) with 14 kills, while Shannon Byers joined Tierney with 11 kills.  Setters Sheila Walsh and Ashley Farwell handed out 26 and 22 assists respectively, while junior libero Claire Patten dug up a match-high 20 balls.

Trailing midway through game four, USCA took advantage of a stretch where FMU committed six attack errors in seven scoring plays to take the lead and force a fifth game. In the final game, Tierney broke a deadlock at 11-11 with a service ace and the Pacers would not trail again.  Byers recorded the winning point on a kill off an assist from Farwell.

Francis Marion hit .279 in the two games it won, but managed only a combined .031 in games one and four. The Patriots held USCA to a negative hitting percentage (-.056) in game two.