AIKEN, S.C.- Defeat a nationally-ranked opponent, check. Earn four weekend victories at the USC-Aiken Invitational, double check. The Palm Beach Atlantic University volleyball team backed up their solid Friday afternoon showing with two more wins on Saturday as the young squad defeated North Greenville (S.C.) University and the host-Pacers by identical 3-0 scores.

Now improving to 7-2 on the season, the Sailfish have put together a tough early schedule which featured playing two nationally ranked opponents at their own tournament last weekend while also earning an exciting 3-2 come-from-behind win over No. 15-ranked Flagler College on Friday night.

The team will take on Nova Southeastern University in a midweek home matchup on Wednesday, September 12th before hitting the road again next weekend for a tournament at Carson Newman College.

Match One (PBA vs. North Greenville University)

Taking on the Crusaders for their first action on Saturday morning, the Fish would have little trouble in dissecting the NGU (4-4) attack as PBA limited their opponent to a -.110 attacking percentage (16 kills, 26 hitting errors).

On the offensive side it would be a balanced attack of PBA hitters who would combine to hit .290 as a team while claiming 25-10, 25-12, and 25-12 victories.

Mariela Quesada and Christina Alessi paced the attack with eight kills each while being aided by a trio of strong freshmen performances from Elly Raush (six kills), Faith Rohn (six kills) and Rachel Jones (four kills).

Becca Acevedo and Alex Marszalek, PBA’s young setting tandem, did solid work in assisting the PBA front line with 20 and eight assists respectively. Melissa Buckingham continued her solid pace to start the season by digging 15 balls.

Quesada led an improved PBA team serve as she accumulated five aces while the team managed 11 as a squad. Raush proved to be the team’s top blocker with five block assists while Alessi also contributed four block assists.

Match Two (PBA vs. USC-Aiken)

The second match on Saturday saw the Fish once again put forth a balanced effort as they went on to sweep their third consecutive match to round out the tournament. Against the host Pacers the Sailfish collected 25-11, 25-11, and 25-16 victories.

While no player reached double-digits in kills, the Fish did manage to hit .319 as a team while also limiting their opponent to a negative hitting percentage (-.093) for the second straight match.

Quesada produced nine kills in the win while Alessi added in seven more while a total of eight players registered at least one kill.

Acevedo closed out a solid tournament run with 21 assists and five digs while Buckingham led the backrow defensive effort with 10 digs.

PBA will take on Nova Southeastern at 7 pm on Wednesday, September 12th in the Rubin Arena.