AIKEN, S.C. - The Anderson University volleyball team split a pair of matches at the USC Aiken Invitational Friday evening, sweeping Francis Marion, 3-0 (25-23, 25-13, 25-18) but falling to the host Pacers, 3-1 (16-25, 26-24, 16-25, 15-25) at the Convocation Center.

Anderson (4-1) blanked Francis Marion (2-4) in the opening match, but suffered its first loss of the young season in the nightcap versus USC Aiken, which improved to 4-1.

"[It was] definitely a day filled with a high and a low," said Anderson head coach Craig Mosqueda. "I thought we played extremely well versus FMU. The team stuck to the game plan, fought hard, and limited our own errors. The Aiken match is one that we wish we can play over. Aiken is a good team, but we did a lot of things that are not common for this team. On the bright side we can learn a lot from this match and we will be ready next time."

Senior outside hitter Shannon Gillespie led the Trojans' offensive attack with 24 kills on the day and chipped in 12 digs, while senior middle blocker Hailey Pittman added 19 kills. Redshirt sophomore Priscilla Irizarry saw her three-match streak of double-doubles halted, but notched 13 kills, 38 assists and 16 digs. Freshman Kendall Vallancourt posted 12 kills and a team-high four blocks.
Freshman Tatianna Grodecky handed out 28 assists, and notched 14 digs and three aces, with senior Alix Hooker chipping in 33 digs. Senior Kelley Lacey also notched 10 digs on the day.

Pittman recorded a match-high .429 attack percentage in the opener, with just two miscues in 14 attempts, as the match featured 14 ties. After trailing by two, the Trojans snapped a 20-20 tie to take a lead they would not relinquish on back-to-errors by the Patriots and clinched the set victory on a kill from Gillespie.

AU raced out to an 11-3 lead in the second set and never looked back, as the Trojans maintained at least a seven-point cushion the rest of the way.

The Trojans overcame an early deficit in the third frame, taking a 7-6 edge on a Gillespie kill and built an eight-point advantage on five occasions through the rest of the set.

Anderson was held to its lowest attack percentage of the season (.104) versus the host Pacers, as the Trojans committed a season-high 27 errors.

After USC Aiken doubled up the Trojans at 10-5, AU capitalized on a pair of Pacer errors and a Pittman kill to rally to within two points, but it was as close as Anderson would get in the first set. USC Aiken opened up a double-digit lead, at 23-13, before claiming the win on an AU miscue.

The second frame featured 14 ties, with the Pacers taking an early 10-7 edge. With the score knotted at 14 apiece, the Trojans posted a 5-2 run to take a 19-16 advantage with Gillespie knocking down three kills. However, USC Aiken evened the score at 20-20, before Anderson battled back to take the narrow win.

The Pacers claimed a 10-4 lead in the third set, with AU climbing within four on a kill from freshman Marissa Mitter. But USC Aiken countered with a 6-2 run to boost its lead to 16-8 and went on to gain the win.

USC Aiken again jumped out to an early lead, at 12-4, in the fourth and final set and claimed a double-digit 22-12 cushion late in the frame.

Anderson wraps up action at the tourney on Saturday with two matches against a pair of Conference Carolinas' opponents, Limestone and Lees-McRae, with AU squaring off against the Saints at noon.