Black & Gold Split Day One Of Patriot Invitational

FLORENCE, S.C. – On day one of the 2009 Francis Marion Patriot Invitational the UNCP volleyball team split a pair of matches with Erskine College and the University of Charleston (W.V.) on Friday, defeating the Flying Fleet of EC, 3-2, before falling to the Golden Eagles, 3-1, at the Smith University Center.

The Braves (4-3) earned a 3-2 decision over Erskine in their first match of the day, taking the first two sets 25-17 and 25-21 before dropping sets three and four 24-26 and 25-27. In the fifth and deciding set UNCP outlasted the Flying Fleet winning 17-15 for its fourth victory of the season.

Sophomore outside hitter Tiara Anderson racked up a career-high 20 kills in the match with fellow Brave Allis Schneider tallying 13. Pembroke libero Caitlin Haworth also set a career-high for digs in a match posting 25 in the five-set-thriller, breaking her previous mark of 20.

Setters Whitney Hanlin and Morgan ridge posted 31 and 20 assists, respectively, directing the Braves to their fourth victory of the season.

Pembroke was not as fortunate in its second match of the day, falling to Charleston 3-1. The Golden Eagles won the first set 25-15 with the Black & Gold tying the match with a 25-18 game-two victory. Charleston, however, won set three 25-20 and set four 25-22 to hand UNCP its third loss of 2009.

Once again Anderson led all Braves with seven kills with Schneider posting six of her own. Hanlin dished out 29 assists in the match and Schneider added 17 digs to the Braves’ total.

UNCP will be back in action tomorrow when the Braves take on Alabama-Huntsville at 11 a.m. and Lenoir-Rhyne at 5 p.m. This will mark the second time this season that Pembroke will take on LRC, having fallen to the Bears 3-1 on Aug. 29 of this year. 

UNC Pembroke (4-2) def. Erskine College (2-4) 25-17, 25-21, 24-26, 25-27, 17-15

University of Charleston (WV) (2-5) def. UNC Pembroke (4-3) 25-15, 18-25, 25-20, 25-22