USC Aiken Wins PBC Volleyball Tournament 3-2 over Lander

GREENWOOD, S.C. -- The USC Aiken Lady Pacers pounded out 86 kills as they held off an inspired Lander team 3-2 to win their second straight PBC Volleyball Tournament title. Mandy Gerolstein had a career-high 25 kills while MVP Stephanie Durham had 18 kills and 25 digs for the Lady Pacers, who hit .280 as a team. Game scores were 24-30, 30-24, 30-27, 28-30, 15-5.

The match was only the third PBC Tournament final to go the full five sets, the last coming in 1998. Amanda Timm had 17 kills for USC Aiken while Jasmine Edney added 14. Lauren Cedeno had 73 assists and 14 digs while Veronica Seidle had a game-high 32 digs.

Andrea Griffin led Lander with 19 kills and had 11 digs. Kay Stewart and Ashley Ferry each added 16 kills, Stewart also had eight blocks. Lander as a team had 13 blocks in the match.

Lander jumped out to an early 7-3 lead in the opening game, rattling off five straight points, four of them on the serve of Marina Camps. USCA came back to tie the game at 11, then tied it again at 17 following back-to-back aces from Durham. The two went back-and-forth until Stewart had back-to-back kills for Lander to open up a 21-18 lead. The Bearcats kept the pressure on with a 4-1 run capped by kills from Griffin and Ashley Ferry to make the lead 27-22 and took the first game 30-24 on a service error.

Game two began with neither team able to get an advantage until USCA, with the score tied at 10, ran off five straight points as part of a larger 10-3 run. Gerolstein stepped to the forefront with six kills in game two alone, including two during the run. Lander fought back and got as close as 23-21 following a Camps ace, but the Lady Pacers took five of the next six and won the game 30-24 on a Durham kill.

USC Aiken used an 11-4 run near the beginning of the third game to open up a 13-8 lead. Five different Lady Pacers recorded kills during the run, including two from Durham. USCA let Lander close to three on three different occasions until Griffin brought the Bearcats to two at 22-20. Kills from Durham and Edney boosted that back to 25-21 and USCA won the game 30-27 on a kill from Gerolstein. USCA hit .404 in game three.

USCA seemed to be heading for the title in game four as they were up 23-17 when Lander went on a 7-0 run on the serve of Melissa Trippany to take a 24-23 lead. USCA led again 25-24 when Lander went on a 6-3 run to close out the game 30-28. Kay Stewart provided the exclamation point with a kill on the final point, but USC Aiken made their share of mistakes, hitting only .188 and failing to take advantage of Lander’s .111 hitting percentage.

USCA opened the fifth and deciding game with a 6-2 run powered by Gerolstein, who had two kills and a solo block. USCA extended that lead to 10-4 following a Durham kill and the rest was all defense as the Lady Pacers stifled every Lander attack on the way to the 15-7 win. Missy Deardorff went cross-court for a kill on the championship point.

USC Aiken will advance to the NCAA Tournament with the league’s automatic bid. The tournament bracket will be released on Sunday night.

2007 All-Tournament Team

Rachel Young, UNC Pembroke
Jessica Howard, Augusta State
Candace LaRocca, Lander
Andrea Griffin, Lander
Mandy Gerolstein, USC Aiken

Most Valuable Player
Stephanie Durham, USC Aiken

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