FLORENCE, SC –  Junior outside hitter Kara Walker registered a season-high 18 kills to lead four Patriots with double-figure kills as Francis Marion University claimed a 22-25, 25-23, 27-25, 25-19 victory over local-rival UNC Pembroke, Wednesday evening (Sept. 20) in Conference Carolinas volleyball play.
 
Francis Marion (5-6, 1-0) will take to the road this weekend with conference matches at Southern Wesleyan University on Friday night and at North Greenville University on Saturday afternoon.  FMU will also tangled with Lenoir-Rhyne University on Saturday in a non-conference contest at NGU.
 
Walker also posted a .385 hitting percentage and dug up a season-high 23 balls.  Freshman Madilyn Gartner followed with 14 kills, three service aces, and three blocks, while junior middle blocker Mo Grigsby recorded 11 kills, seven blocks, and a .562 hitting percentage.  Sophomore middle blocker Caroline Lucas added 12 kills with a .393 hitting percentage.
 
Senior setter Kaylee Gillespie directed the Patriot offense with 54 assists and tallied a season-high 21 digs – three off her career high.  Sophomore libero Katie Floyd had 20 digs.
 
Vanja Przulj led UNCP (6-6, 1-1) with 17 kills and 20 digs.
 
UNCP capped a tightly contested first set that featured 13 ties and six lead changes by running off the final five points to win 25-22.
 
FMU led by as many as five points (17-12) in the second set, before the Braves rallied to knot the score at 23-23.  An attack error by the Braves and a kill by Grigsby on an over hit evened the match with a 25-23 Patriot victory.
 
Each team held three-point advantages in the third set, but representative of the tight match, the score was deadlocked at 23-23 and again at 24-24 and 25-25.  The deciding points went the way of the Patriots through kills by Walker and Lucas as FMU prevailed 27-25.
 
In the fourth set, an early 4-0 spurt by Francis Marion snapped a 4-4 tie.  The margin grew to 11-6 following a kill by Walker and later to 13-7 on a kill by Lucas.  Following a UNCP timeout, Gartner extended the lead to 14-7 with a kill off an over hit by the Braves.  Another kill by Gartner and a UNCP attack error pushed the advantage to 17-9.  Grigsby provided the deciding point with a kill as FMU finished the match with a 25-19 victory.