AIKEN, S.C. – No. 12 Palm Beach Atlantic volleyball suffered a split on the first day of the USC Aiken Invitational, defeating Lees-McRae in straight sets before falling to the host Pacers, 3-1.

PBA (3-2) is back in action on Saturday morning to close out the weekend, battling Lander University at 10 a.m. before wrapping up the invitational against Fayetteville State at noon.

PBA 3, Lees-McRae 0
The Sailfish had little trouble sweeping past the Bobcats (25-11, 25-15, 25-12), hitting .345 for the match and holding LMC (0-5) to a negative .080 attack. Faith Rohn led all players with 10 kills as eight players registered at least on kill in the match.

PBA opened a 9-2 advantage in the first set and later rattled off nine of 10 points to take an 18-7 advantage. The ‘Fish finished the first set with a .455 attack, 11 kills and just one error on 22 attacks. Sarah Ragland tallied three of her four block assists in the set and finished with an additional two solo blocks. She also added six kills including three in the third set.

The Sailfish opened up big leads early in the second and third sets as well, jumping out to a 14-5 margin in the second and 10-5 in the third. Jen Cook led the squad in the second with all four of her kills. Faith Rohn and Stephany Brown added three kills each in the set. Brown finished the match with five kills on 13 swings.

Emma Ballantyne recorded seven kills in the match and hit .538 to lead the team. Rachael Holehouse led the team with 12 digs and two service aces. Ally Rohn paced the club with 18 assists.

PBA 1, USC Aiken 3
The Sailfish got off to a slow start and never were able to recover against the Pacers (5-0), falling in four sets 25-14, 25-19, 19-25, 25-20. The Sailfish hit a season-low .118 for the match while USCA was marginally better at .188.

The Pacers jumped out to a 10-5 lead early on in set one and after a five-point run led 18-8. PBA responded with four straight but another five straight from the hosts carried them to a first set victory.

In the second, a 10-7 lead for the ‘Fish disappeared as the Pacers rattled off three straight points to knot the match at 10-10. After a kill by Ally Rohn to put PBA up 11-10, the hosts took two straight and six of seven to seize a 16-12 lead. A kill by Faith Rohn brought PBA back to within one at 17-16 but PBA were never able to retake the lead as the Pacers won six of the final eight points.

Both teams had their best offensive performance in the second set as the Pacers hit .344 in the set and the Sailfish connected at a .233 clip. The Rohn sisters combined for nine of the team’s 15 kills in the set as both finished the match in double digits. Ally led the way with 13 kills and a .375 attack while Faith added 10 kills. Ally also led the team with 18 assists and tallied 12 digs, her second triple-double of the season.

The third set saw PBA make the late run to close out the set, winning seven of the final eight and 10 of the final 12 to break a 16-16 tie. Ally Rohn added five kills in the set as Faith Rohn added four and Emma Ballantyne chipped in with three including two in the late surge.

The Pacers built a 19-13 lead in the fourth and held on despite a late surge from the ‘Fish as PBA reeled off four straight to close the gap to two at 20-18. The Pacers took four of the final five points to take the match.