SAVANNAH, Ga. – A hard-fought third set that pushed the score to 33-31 and tipped in favor of the UNC Pembroke volleyball team after a pair of kills by senior Nicole Mathews was not enough as Armstrong State took the 3-1 Peach Belt Conference victory on Saturday inside the ARC.

Armstrong (6-4, 2-0 PBC) remained perfect in the league and extended its winning streak to four games, while UNCP (3-13, 0-4 PBC) fell in its third-straight match. The set scores were 15-25, 21-25, 33-31, 17-25.

Mathews controlled UNCP's only double-double with a team-high in both kills with 12 and digs with 19, while fellow senior Cecilia Brandon and junior Brittani Jefferson both added nine kills and hit .500 in the Braves' effort at the net. The Black and Gold hit .209 with 47 kills and out-blocked its opponent for the fourth-straight match. 

In the third set, the Braves trailed following a six-point run, but the Pirates' cushion was too thin as the Braves utilized 20 Armstrong errors including seven serving, seven at the net, four reception and a pair of ball-handling errors take the victory. With the scored knotted at 31-apiece, Mathews gave UNCP its fifth set point on a kill using her left hand and secured the win in the next point to keep the Black and Gold in the game. 

The Braves registered seven kills compared to Armstrong's five at the 9-9 mark in the first set, but nine attack errors hindered UNCP's effort to win set one. Armstrong managed to take set two despite suffering seven attack errors of its own and UNCP hitting a blistering .321.

Armstrong raced out to a 10-4 lead early in the fourth set and made use of a .361 hitting percentage on 15 kills to run away with the final game.

Armstrong was led by Raquel Kulak with 18 kills, while Anna McGee and Emily Wylie had double-digit kills. A shared effort in assists allowed Carley Eiken and Krisi Vaughn to finish the game with 34 and 21 assists, respectively. Another three players had more than 10 digs for the Pirates who out-hit and out-dug the Braves.

UNCP will make its way back to Lumbee Guaranty Bank Court inside the English E. Jones Center on Tuesday as the Braves play host to PBC opponent GRU Augusta (9-3, 3-2) for Dig Pink night which is set to begin at 7 p.m.