Rocky Mount,NC-- William Peace Volleyball opened USA South Conference play on the road against the Battling Bishops of North Carolina Wesleyan. The Pacers would fall in five sets to to NC Wesleyan (25-17), (22-25), (18-25), (25-15), and (10-15). William Peace now falls to 10-3 overall and 0-1 in USA South play.

The Pacers would come out on a 5-0 run and take an early lead in set number one. The Bishops would respond with a run of their own and go on a 6 point run capped with a kill by Sydney Barnwell that would tie the game at 6-6. WPU would then regain control in set one and comfortably close the set out with a service ace from Abby Benton and a kill from Paige Emore to win set one 25-17.

Set number two would see NC Wesleyan take an early 5-2 lead over the Pacers. William Peace would then answer and take a 12-7 lead as they would take advantage of the Bishop's attacking errors. WPU would hold a 21-18  lead after a kill from Brianna Davis. The Bishops would then go on a five point run to take 23-21 lead over the Pacers. The Pacers would not be able to regain the lead as a pair of errors from WPU would give NC Wesleyan a 25-22 win in set two.

Set number three would start with some back and forth action before the Pacers took a four point streak capitalize on errors from the Bishops putting the Pacers up 6-3.  While the Pacers would go on one more scoring run the Bishops would go on multiple ones and would ultimately take set three 18-25.

Set four would start off strong for the Pacers who would score six of nine points off of errors committed by the Bishops giving the Pacers an early 9-1 lead. The Pacers would extend their lead after back to back kills from Brianna Davis giving the Pacers the 12-4 lead. The rest of the set would go back and forth but the early work done by the Pacers in the set would ensure their 25-15 win in set number four. 

All tied up 2-2 the Pacers entered the fifth set looking to close the game out. They would come out strong and take an early 5-1 lead. The Pacers continued this dominance and after kills from Abby Benton and Shelby Cooper sat nicely with a 9-4 lead. The Bishops answered back going on a 7-0 run, three of those seven points would come of errors from the Pacers. The Bishops would now hold an 11-9 lead. The Pacers would break up the scoring run scoring one point on an attack error from NC Wesleyan. The Bishops would score the next four points and take the final set 15-10. 

• Abby Benton finished with 12 kills and 10 digs

• Brittany Carpenter would finish with 42 assists on the night

• Brienna Laskowski would add 10 kills and 14 digs

The Foes:

• Callie Cline tallied 10 kills to go along with 23 digs 

What's Next:

The Pacers will continue USA South play on Saturday September 28,2019 as they travel to Salem College for a USA Tri-Match. WPU will square off against Mary Baldwin at 2:00pm followed by Salem College at 4:00pm.

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