WILSON, NC - Junior Emily Sears registered 12 kills and three service aces as Francis Marion University swept a non-conference road match from Barton College 25-16, 25-23, 25-18 on Tuesday evening (Sept. 17) to equal the program's best season start in 15 years.

The Patriots improve to 6-1 equaling the 2010 squad's opening seven-match record. The best start prior to that was a 15-1 start by the 1998 team that advanced to the NCAA Tournament.

FMU will return to Peach Belt Conference action with road matches at USC Aiken on Friday night at 7 p.m. and at Lander University on Saturday at 2 p.m.

Following Sears, sophomore Alexzandra Reed pounded out eight kills, while senior middleblocker Megan Mooney added seven kills and senior Jessica Imbimbo tallied seven kills and a team-high 11 digs.  Senior setter Kailey Smith dished out 31 assists.

Francis Marion hit .400 as a team with only one attack error in the easy set-one victory.  After collecting a back-and-forth two-point win in the second set, the Patriots used a 5-0 run behind the serving of Reed to snap a 4-4 deadlock and take the lead for good in set three.

Francis Marion Univ. def. Barton 25-16,25-23,25-18

Francis Marion Univ. (6-1) (Kills-aces-blocks) - Emily Sears 12-3-2;
Alexzandra Reed 8-1-1; Jessica Imbimbo 7-2-0; Megan Mooney 7-0-1;
Shelby Jones 3-0-4; Kailey Smith 1-0-1; Rebekah Davis 1-0-0; Caroline
Boone 0-1-0; Totals 39-7-5.0. (Assists) - Kailey Smith 31. (Dig
leaders) - Jessica Imbimbo 11; Rebekah Davis 8

Barton (1-5) (Kills-aces-blocks) - Melissa Cochran 8-1-4; Alex Ward
7-0-0; Kaitlyn Micol 6-0-1; Catherine Barber 5-1-1; Jillian Sherman
2-0-0; Corinna Morton 1-2-0; Amber Kelly 1-0-3; Skye Square 0-0-1;
Amanda Grandy 0-1-0; Totals 30-5-5.0. (Assists) - Amber Kelly 26. (Dig
leaders) - Corinna Morton 13; Alex Ward 10

Site: Wilson, N.C. (Wilson Gymnasium)
Date: Sep 17, 2013   Attend: 65   Time: 1:19 
Referees: Rick Laskey, Ron Weigand