PEMBROKE, NC – Senior middleblocker Caroline Boone registered a match-high 18 kills to surpass 800 for her career, while finishing with a .471 hitting percentage as Francis Marion University was victorious in four sets 25-18, 22-25, 25-23, 25-14 over UNC Pembroke, Wednesday night (Sept. 28) in Peach Belt Conference women's volleyball action.

FMU ups its overall mark to 9-5 and improves its conference record to 3-2 with its third consecutive win, while UNC Pembroke drops to 1-14 and 0-5. 

Francis Marion will play its next two matches, both PBC contests, on the road this weekend beginning with a trip to Augusta University on Friday for a 7 p.m. first serve. The Patriots will then head to Georgia College on Saturday for a 2 p.m. start.

Boone also dug up seven balls and finished with one service ace. Sophomore setter Carrie McGinnis directed the Francis Marion offense by tallying 48 assists, while serving a pair of aces.

Senior Carlie Smith added 11 kills and dug up five balls, while sophomore Georgia Garrison finished with 10 kills and a team-high 12 digs for the Patriots.

Caroline Pridgen led UNCP with nine kills, while setter Bailee Jones recorded 31 assists and 11 digs. Cayce Bell recorded a match-high 20 digs, while Anna Heinz dug up 13 balls for the Braves.

Francis Marion used a 7-2 spurt in the first set to break a 10-10 deadlock and open a 17-12 lead, and FMU would not look back. The Patriots would win the set 25-18 after a kill by Smith off of a set by McGinnis. FMU hit .405 as a team in the opening set and tallied a total of 18 kills.

In set two, the Braves would score the final two points to capture a 25-22 victory after the Patriots closed within a point of tying the set at 23-22.

The third set was close throughout and featured 12 ties and five lead changes. Leading 20-15, the Patriots would see the Braves rattle off five straight points to tie the set at 20-20. UNCP would knot the set at 23-23, but Boone and sophomore Chloe Attram pounded out back-to-back kills to secure the 25-23 win.

FMU would score the first three points in the fourth set against the Braves and never trailed. The Patriots led the entire set and found themselves up 18-10 after an attack error by UNCP's Madelyn Ashwell. Francis Marion would close-out the set and the match by going on a 7-4 run en route to claiming a 25-14 victory.