PEMBROKE – Having already claimed an impressive 3-2 victory in early October at Francis Marion in Peach Belt Conference action, the UNC Pembroke volleyball team echoed the performance on Wednesday with a five-set victory over the Patriots at Lumbee Guaranty Bank Court that gave the Braves their first season sweep of the Patriots since 2002.
The victory gave the Braves (8-22, 3-12 PBC) a 2-2 record in the month of November and snapped a two-game skid, while the Patriots (14-13, 7-9) fell in their third-consecutive contest with set scores of 28-26, 18-25, 25-19, 28-30 and 15-11.
Senior Nicole Mathews led the Braves with a team-high 14 kills and was behind 27 digs, while both Caroline Pridgen and Cecilia Brandon each had 13 kills in the contest. Brittani Jefferson hit .500 with nine kills and four block assists, while Mckala Bozman added eight kills and four block assists. Sophomore Jada Vernon slammed down eight kills.
Setters Bailee Jones and Alicia Paeplow finished the contest with 29 and 28 assists, respectively, while Jones posted her third double-double of the season with 10 digs and Paeplow recorded her sixth double-double with 11 digs. Libero Ka'asha Jefferies had a game-high 32 digs and seven assists.
The Braves finished the contest out-hitting the Patriots, 69-53, including a .171 hitting percentage and out-dug the competition, 113-91.
UNCP busted out to an early lead in the first set on serving by Jefferies for the 6-1 lead, but the Patriots inched closer throughout the contest to tie up the game at 22-22. However, the Braves pulled through on a service ace by Aquia Jones and a kill by Brandon for the extra-points victory in set one.
Francis Marion used 10 hitting errors by the Braves to grab set two, but the Black and Gold regrouped to hit .375 in the third set to pull ahead a set. Another extra-point set proved to sway in favor of the Patriots despite being out-hit. UNCP suffered 11 hitting errors and Francis Marion capitalized on the final three points of set four to even up the sets at 2-2.
Finally, in set five, UNCP hit .241 compared to Francis Marion's .148 and denied the Patriots a comeback after using a 7-3 run and service ace by Mathews to end the fifth set for the monstrous victory.
Francis Marion had three players register double-digit kills with two of those posting double-doubles. Shelbi Meek carried a team-best 29 digs, while setters Samantha Hinrichs and Carrie McGinnis logged double-digit assists. The Patriots out-blocked the Braves as both Kadeeja Griffin and Carlie Smith had five block assists and Caroline Boone posted a pair of solo blocks.
UNCP will look for another victory on Friday when the Braves return to action in Pembroke for a PBC contest with Columbus State (4-24, 1-15) at 7 p.m. at Lumbee Guaranty Bank Court. Friday's match will be senior night for the Braves, celebrating the 2015 senior class of Mathews and Brandon.
