AIKEN, SC - Senior Jessica Imbimbo registered a career-high 18 kills, including the match-winning attack, as Francis Marion University fought off USC Aiken for a five-set win, 30-28, 25-15, 21-25, 16-25, 15-13, Friday night (Sept. 20) in Peach Belt Conference women's volleyball action.

The Patriots improve to 7-1 overall, the best season start since 1998, and to 2-0 in the Peach Belt.  FMU will conclude its weekend roadtrip with a 2 p.m. match at Lander University on Saturday.

The win was the first for the Patriots on the Pacers' home court in five seasons, and after going up 2-0, FMU had visions of its first sweep of USCA in nearly a decade.  That did not happen, but FMU settled for the rewarding conference victory.

Imbimbo tallied her kills on 40 swings with only one error for a .400 hitting percentage.  She dug up 10 balls for a double-double and also added three service aces and three blocks.

Senior Megan Mooney followed Imbimbo with 12 kills and five blocks, while senior setter Kailey Smith also posted a double-double with 47 assists and a season-high 19 digs.  Junior libero Rebekah Davis posted a team-high 25 digs.

Patriot freshman Carolina Boone came off the bench to score the deciding point on a service ace to end the back-and-forth first set, 30-28.  She finished the evening with four aces.  Francis Marion registered six of the first seven points in set two and never trailed en route to a 25-15 win.

After Francis Marion rallied to tie set three at 19-19, the Pacers ran off six of the next eight points to win 25-21. USCA erased an early FMU lead in set four and finished on a 9-2 run to force a deciding fifth set.

In the final set, FMU rattled off the first three points and never trailed.  USCA did fight off three match points before Imbimbo took a pass from Smith and pounded out the winning kill.  In the final set, Francis Marion recorded nine kills and only one attack error in 31 swings.

Francis Marion Univ. def. USC Aiken 30-28,25-15,21-25,16-25,15-13

Francis Marion Univ. (7-1, 2-0) (Kills-aces-blocks) - Jessica Imbimbo
18-3-3; Megan Mooney 12-0-5; Emily Sears 8-0-1; Alexzandra Reed 7-1-1;
Shelby Jones 3-0-1; Rebekah Davis 2-1-0; Brianna West 1-0-0; Kailey
Smith 0-0-1; Caroline Boone 0-4-0; Totals 51-9-6.0. (Assists) - Kailey
Smith 47. (Dig leaders) - Rebekah Davis 25; Kailey Smith 19;
Alexzandra Reed 10; Jessica Imbimbo 10

USC Aiken (6-4, 1-1) (Kills-aces-blocks) - Taylor Stratton 15-0-0; Aly
Johnson 14-0-2; Ashley Diedrich 11-0-5; Endea Ellison 8-0-5; Shawn
Hotson 7-2-0; Leah Rodgers 6-0-1; Amanda Bologna 3-1-1; Hannah Tierney
1-2-2; Totals 65-5-9.0. (Assists) - Amanda Bologna 54. (Dig leaders) -
Katie Toman 27; Ashley Diedrich 11; Amanda Bologna 10; Shawn Hotson 9;
Taylor Stratton 8; Monica Cardona 8

Site: Aiken, S.C. (Convocation Center)
Date: Sep 20, 2013   Attend: 308   Time: 2:15    
Referees: